Socio-economic and demographic determinants of antenatal care attendance in Uganda.

Abstract

This study examined antenatal care attendance by expectant mothers in Uganda basing on the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between the socio-economic, demographic and sources of information factors affecting a woman’s attendance to ANC services in Uganda. More specifically to assess how socio- economic factors affect the attendance of ANC services in Uganda and also to find out the role of demographic factors in determining the attendance of ANC services in Uganda.

The study used secondary data from UDHS 2006 and looked at the women respondents’ questionnaire with particular emphasis on ANC attendance section. Data analysis was carried out at three levels namely: Univariate level where independent background variables were presented in form of frequency and percentage tables, bivariate level where the association between the dependent and the independent variables were tested with use of a statistic chi square, and, at a multivariate level of analysis where a binary logistic regression model was fitted to examine the relationship between a woman’s selected background characteristics and her attendance to ANC services.

The findings of the study at univariate level of analysis showed variation in distribution of background factors which could have influenced ANC attendance in Uganda. In addition, at bivariate level of analysis most of the background factors had an association with ANC attendance apart from demographic factors namely; age and marital status. Furthermore the binary logistic regression model showed that some selected variables such as region, education, television viewing, radio listenership, wealth status and parity had some of their categories with a substantial association with ANC while other categories did not.

In conclusion the study found out that not all background factors have influence on ANC attendance while others did. Based on the findings of the study it was recommended that government should ensure equitable distribution of enabling environment to every part of Uganda in order to uplift ANC services.