THE INFLUENCE OF MATERNAL EDUCATION ON ANTENATAL CARE ATTENDANCE AT THE OLD TAFO GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Worldwide, it was approximated that 303,000 maternal deaths will occur in 2015, yielding a general MMR of 216 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births for the 183 nations. Sub-Saharan Africa has an elevated MMR with a point-gauge of 546 per 100,000. In Ghana the MMR was 319 per 100,000 in 2015. Antenatal care exists as one of the Safe Motherhood intercessions that when executed effectively has the possibility to remarkably minimize deaths before and few weeks after delivery. The number of ANC visits per client reduced from 6.3 to 5.6 in 2015 at the Old Tafo Government Hospital. The general objective of the study was to find the factors the influence ANC attendance at the Old Tafo Government Hospital.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design and quantitative approach was used to collect the data. Proportion of number of ANC attendance was derived. Association between maternal formal education and number of ANC visits was assessed using the bivariate analysis. Logistic regression was used to determine the strength of association between maternal education and ANC attendance. All tests were two-tailed and statistical significance was set at 0.05.

Results: the proportion of 8 or more ANC visits was found to be 7.51%. Out of the women who attended the recommended number of ANC, 77.5% had secondary and tertiary education and 67.7% were married. Maternal formal education had no significant association with ANC attendance at the Old Tafo Government Hospital.

Conclusion: Attending the recommended number of ANC visits before delivery among women was low at the Old Tafo Government Hospital. And maternal formal education has no significant association with ANC attendance.

Recommendation: Increasing awareness of the public on the relevance of early initiation, and having completed the recommended ANC visits, should be a major priority.