Factors associated with utilization of postnatal care services among women in Babati urban district in Manyara Region,Tanzania

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Tanzania is among the countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a high rate of maternal mortality. Postpartum deaths caused by obstetric factors occur mainly due to limited access and use of maternal health care services. Postnatal care prevents the great majority of maternal and child morbidity, mortality, and this is a critical phase in the lives of mothers and their newborn babies. Regardless of its importance, this period is commonly the most neglected in developing countries and much less is known about the utilization of postnatal care. Broad objective The study aimed to assess factors associated with utilization of Postnatal Care services among women in Babati urban district at Manyara region, Tanzania. Methodology The study employed community baseddescriptive cross-sectional design andwas conducted atBabati urban district in Manyara region. The estimated sample size was 383 postnatal women who gave birth within 3 months up to 6 months prior to the period of data collection.This study used two probability sampling techniques, whereby a multistage and simple random sampling technique were used in order to reach the study participants. Data was collected by using interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data was entered, coded and cleaned and analyzed by using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 23 software, binary logistic regression analysis was computed for each independent variable. Results One third (29.5%)of respondents were in the middle age group (25-29), and more than three quarter (84.7%) were married. Furthermore, the majority of respondents (62.4%) were primary school leavers, while the prominent tribe in this study was Iraq (27.4%). Moreover, the majority of respondents (84.1%) were gravida 2-5. Lastly, the majority of respondents (55.1%) were Christian. Logistic regression results shows that those mothers who gave birth at the hospital were 3.6 times more likely to use postnatal care services than mothers who did not give birth at the hospital [AOR= 3.64, 95%CI (1.04 – 12.71), p. value 0.043]. Moreover, mothers who lived near health facility were 2 times more likely to use postnatal care servicesthan mothers who lived more than 5km from health facility [AOR: 2.02, 95%CI (1.16 – 3.51), p. value 0.013]. Other factors such as socio-demographic factors, socio-cultural factors, and institutional factors have no influence on the utilization of postnatal care services.

Conclusion The utilization of postnatal care services is low at Babati urban district as only 19.8% of the respondent's utilized postnatal care services. The study also showed that the most important factors influencing the use of postnatal care include the distance from the health facility and giving birth at the health facility.