Timing of first focused antenatal care booking and associated factors among pregnant mothers who attend antenatal care in Central Zone, Tigray, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: Focused antenatal care became the recommended type of antenatal care following the publication of a World Health Organization trial on antenatal care where it was discovered that the traditional antenatal care approach do not necessarily improve pregnancy out-come. This study was aimed to assess timing of first focused antenatal care booking and associated factors among pregnant mothers. Facility based cross sectional study was used in the randomly selected health facilities. Total 239 pregnant women who visited antenatal clinic were selected using simple random sampling technique and data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software.

RESULTS: The study shows that only 41% of pregnant mothers booked timely antenatal care and the median duration of pregnancy at the first visit was 5 months. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gravidity and information received on correct time of antenatal care booking from health care provider were significantly associated with timely initiation of antenatal care. Late antenatal care booking remains high in the study area and this indicated that provide information, education and communication to create community awareness is remarkable and implementing community based discussion up to the local level will be crucial.