INTENTION TO USE MATERNITY WAITING HOME AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ANDASSOCIATEDFOCTORS IN HARGEISA HEALTH CENTERS, HARGEISA CITY, SOMALILAND, 2021.

Abstract

Abstract Background: - Maternity waiting homes (MWHs) are residential facilities located near a health facility to accommodate women in their final weeks of pregnancy to bridge the geographic gap in obstetric care between rural and urban areas and areas with poor access to a facility. Thus, to save the life of mothers, World health organization (WHO), adopted MWH as one component of a comprehensive package to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality to those women from the remote area but later it used for risky pregnancy. Yet, there is a shortage of information on the magnitude of intention and utilization of MWH among pregnant women in the study area. Objective: To assess intention to use maternity waiting home and associated factors among pregnant women in Hargeisa city Somaliland. Methods: Facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from April to May 2021in Hargeisa health facilities using 422 pregnant women who were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire wasused to collect data. The data were entered into EPI data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics, bivariate logistic regression and Multivariable logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Odds ratio along with 95% confidence interval was used to measure the strength of association, level of statistical significance was decided at P-value <0.05. Results: A Total of 245 (58 %),[95% CI, 53.1, 62.8] pregnant womenhad intended to use maternity waiting home. After adjusting for possible confounders, the result of multivariate analysis revealed that level of education (AOR=5.40, 95%CI: 3.01, 9.69); Pregnant women with past experience of utilizing MWH (AOR=3.80, 95%CI: 2.32, 6.27).Multigravida pregnant women (AOR=2.2, 95 % CI: 1.16, 4.29). Subjective norms (AOR=1.8, 95 % CI: 1.05, 3.11; indirect attitude towards use of MWH (AOR=1.9, 95% CI: 1.01, 3.92); Indirect subjective norms (AOR=2.0, 95%CI: 1.16, 3.60); were significantly associated with pregnant women’s intention to use maternity waiting home Conclusion:The study revealed that only (58%) of pregnant women were intended to use MWH, Considering these findings, the following conclusions can be made.formal education, past MWH experience ,gravidity,favorable SN, indirect attitude and favorable indirect SN were significantly associated with intention to use MWH. Key words: -maternity waiting home, intention to use, Somaliland, pregnant women