Abstract: Antenatal care, also known prenatal care as is a type of preventive healthcare, with the goal of providing regular check-ups that allow doctors or midwives to treat and prevent potential health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy while promoting healthy lifestyles that benefit both mother and child. Current models of antenatal care originated in the early decades of the 20th century. The pattern of visits recommended at that time (monthly until 30 weeks, then fortnightly to 36 weeks and then weekly until delivery) is still recognizable today. It has been said that antenatal care has escaped critical assessment.
Objective: To assess Antenatal care services availability and accessibility in three main MCH, Hargeisa-Somaliland.
Methods: cross-sectional study design was used to assess the antenatal care services availability and accessibility in three main MCH, Hargeisa-Somaliland. Simple random sampling technique was applied to identify sample population. The data was entered in to SPSS version 20 and excel 2007 for further analysis.
Result: A total of 138 were incorporated in the study of which majority of ANC attendees age were 20-25(31%) while 54% of them are illiterate and 79% were married. It shows that the majority of them 70% did not plan where they were going to deliver while 41% of them had late antenatal checkup. It also showed that about 24% of the respondent deliver their past pregnancies at home.
Conclusion: The study findings revealed that greater part of antenatal care attendees 54% of them were illiterate in which lack of knowledge and low antenatal care attendance goes hand in hand almost all, 79% of them were currently married. The study showed that out of 67(48.6%) who had difficulty in attending the MCH stated their reason which, 16(11.6%) was due to too much responsibility, 45(32.6%) was due to lack of transportation while 6(4.3%) was due to lack of money. While the 51% indicates those who have not had any difficulty in attending the MCH.
Keywords: Antenatal care accessibility and availability.
Title: ASSESSMENT OF ANTENATAL CARE SERVICES AVAILABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY IN THREE MAIN MCH AT HARGEISA CITY-SOMALILAND
Author: Saad Ahmed Abdiwali, Bilan Abdirahman Abdisalam, Deka Adam Warsame, Hamda Abdilahi Yusuf, Hamda Hussein Yusuf, Hamze Abdilahi Adem
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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