Abstract:

Background: Over the years, CS has become increasingly safe and remains one of the most commonly performed surgeries in obstetrics practice worldwide. Even though there is an increased rate of CS in both developed and developing countries, some studies have suggested that African women have aversion of it. This study conducted to determine the knowledge and perception among pregnant women attending ANC in BMC, Mwanza, Tanzania.

Methodology: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Convenience sampling was used to select 384 consenting respondents. Semi structured questionnaire was used to assess knowledge and perception of 384 pregnant women towards CS.

Results: Total of 384 pregnant women were enrolled in the study. Majority of pregnant women 225 (66.2%) had adequate knowledge of CS where most of them 360 (93.5%) had heard about CS. A further analysis of association between overall knowledge and level of education revealed a significant association relationship (p<0.05) where most women with secondary education had a better knowledge on CS when compared with their counterparts in the other categories. Also, association between overall knowledge on CS and women who had previous CS revealed a significant association most of women who had previously CS had shown to have adequate knowledge. On perception most of women 196 (50.9%) had negative perception on CS while 188 (48%) had positive perception where 170 (44.2%) disagreed that delivery by CS is a safe procedure, 160 (41.6%) agreed and 54 (13.8%) responded “I don’t know”.

Conclusion: Despite majority of the pregnant women in this study have adequate knowledge of CS but most of them have negative perception towards CS as it was seen that most of the women preferred vaginal delivery than CS because some of them felt that cs is dangerous.