AMONG UTLIZATION AND ASSOCIATED FACTORSOF POSTNATAL CARE AMONGWOMEN WHO GAVE BIRTH IN THE PAST ONE YEAR IN GULELE SUB CITY, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Of all maternal and newborn deaths, up to one-half of newborn deaths occur during the first 24 hours after birth. Approximately two – thirds of all maternal deaths occur during the postnatal period. Objective: to assesspostnatal care utilization and associated factors among women who gave birth in the past one year in Gulele sub city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: Community based, cross sectional quantitative method was conducted from February to June 2015among 817 women who gave birth in the past one yearprior to the study. Multistage sampling technique was employed.The data was collected by administering a pre-tested interview questionnaireand entered into EPI info version 7 then exported to SPSS version 20.0. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate analysis applied to analyze the data. Results:The study showed that 729 (89.2%) utilized postnatal care service at least once in health facilities.Women’s occupation ((AOR: .44, 95% CI [.20, .96]), Information about PNC ((AOR: 27.08, 95% CI [10.25, 71.49]), family size ((AOR: .3895% CI, [.19, .76]), marital status (AOR= .20, 95% CI: [.07, .56]), assistants during delivery(AOR= .11, 95% CI: [.03, .39]), anddecision making authority (AOR= 4.62 [1.37, 15.61]), were found to be significantly associated with postnatal care service utilization. Conclusion:Thelevel of postnatal care service utilization is relatively higher compared to the previous studies. Marital status, family size, women’s occupation, assistants during delivery and information about PNC and husband’s influence were found to besignificantly associated with postnatal care service utilization. Recommendation:FederalMinstry of Health and other health development partners working in thearea should focus on improving and strengtheningcommunity awareness on reproductive health, healthy pregnancy outcome, skilled delivery assistantsandmale involvement in the promotion of women decision making on seekinghealth services. Key words: Post natalcare, utilization