Author(s)

Ahmed Sheik Abdullahi Osman¹, Mohamed Ali Ahmed¹, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed¹, Predrag Ilić², Mubarick Nungbaso Asumah³

¹Somali Institute of Disaster and Environmental Research (SOMSIDER), Mogadishu, Somalia.
²PSRI Institute for Protection and Ecology of the Republic of Srpska, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³Department of Global and International Health, School of Public Health, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.

Worldwide more than thousands of women and new born are at the danger of die from pregnancy and child delivery complications. Antenatal care (ANC)/ pregnancy care is the health care where expecting mothers and new born receive medical care or medical attention. The aim of this study is to examine factors affecting the utilization of antenatal care among married women of reproductive age in Merca, lower Shebelle, Somalia. Methodology: This is a descriptive cross-sectional and qualitative study design that was carried out from June to August 2022 and this study was carried out in Merca, district lower Shabelle, Somalia. Data were collected from 325 married women of reproductive age who have at least one child and more than living in Merca district. Result: Our study found that the magnitude of antenatal care uptake was 31.1% during the examined period. Very low utilization of antenatal care in Somali women is worrying in the face of high vulnerability of maternal complications. In terms of age diverse and utilization of antenatal care, women in younger age group 15 - 30 were more to utilize antenatal care services than with women in older age group 31 years above (p-value < 0.007). Our study also identified that there is association between level of education and level of utilization among women about antenatal care services (p-value < 0.001). In terms of level of awareness about antenatal care services, it is significantly associated with the level of utilization antenatal care (p-value < 0.001). Our study identified that the number of complaining complications related previous pregnancy that have no awareness about antenatal care services was higher than number of utilized antennal care awareness about antenatal care (p-value < 0.001). Based on these results, it is recommended to improve women’s awareness about antenatal care services by using health education program.

Antenatal Care, Pregnant Women, Utilization, Reproductive Age

Osman, A. , Ahmed, M. , Mohamed, M. , Ilić, P. and Asumah, M. (2022) Factors Affecting the Utilization of Antenatal Care among Married Women of Reproductive Age in Merca, Lower Shebelle, Somalia. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 10, 165-175. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2022.1011013.