Abstract:

Background: In Tanzania, pregnant women attending antenatal care early in the first trimester was reported to be 24% and only 51% of women had more than 4 antenatal care visits. This ineffective utilization of antenatal care is still a challenge especially in developing countries and had potential treat to both pregnant women and unborn child. Adequate utilization of antenatal health care services is associated with improved maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the factors affecting the utilizations of the antenatal care among pregnant women attending Makongoro RCH clinic.

Methodology: This study was a centre based cross-section study that involved 372 pregnant women attending Makongoro antenatal clinic; who were selected by systematic sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire in order to assess the factors affecting the utilizations of the antenatal care.

Results: One third of pregnant women visited for the fourth or more visits; and 60% of those visited for the fourth or more visits had secondary education. Most of respondents 211 (56.7%) were living within 2 kilometers from the centre; 47.8% they used to walk by feet, and 82.5% took less than one hour for them to reach clinic. The roll of mass media is still low, and most of respondents were satisfied by the services provided but the main limitation was few nurses and long waiting time (CI 0.434-701).

Conclusion: Factors such as education level, lower women empowerment, poor knowledge of maternal health services and week partner support, less media exposure related to maternal health services, and few nurses were significantly associated with fewer than the recommended four ANC visits.