Abstract:
Introduction : Globallay 50-71% of maternal and neonatal deaths are occurred in the postpartum period and are avoidable through giving cost effective and feasible strategies of postnatal care service. Inspite of Ethiopia planned this service utilization coverage to be 78% by the year 201, still only 12% of mothers utilized the service within the recommnded two days of postnatal period. Moreover, the factors associated with postnatal care service utilization needs study in the study area particularly. METHODS: A community based cross sectional study was conducted in Debre Tabor Town from July 1-30. A total of 381 mothers were included in the study. Pre tested was done and data was collected by using structured questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was utilized. Data were entered in to Epinfo version 7.0 and then exported to SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression model were fitted. Crude and Adjusted Odds ratio with 95 % confidence interval were computed and variables with p-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: the Proportion of postnatal care users mothers found to be 38.6% with (95%CI; 33.6-43.3). Hasband educational status with secondary school or higher (AOR=4.01: 95 CI:1.82, 8.87), instrumental or cesarean section delivery (AOR=3.12:95 CI:1.45,6.71), counseld mother about PNC service utlization after gave birth ( AOR=3.65:95 CI:1.77,7.51), had immunized their baby during postpartum period (AOR=2.85: 95CI: 1.32,6.17), had post partum family planning service (AOR=2.31: 95 CI: 1.14, 4.67), and client’s perceived have good quality of health service system (AOR= 4.62: 95 CI: 2.35, 9.11) were factors positively associated with postnatal care service utlization . Conclusion and recommendation: In this study, postnatal care service utlization was low. Husband’s with secondary school or higher educational level and giving post natal counseling for mothers immidately after delivery were among factors posetively associated with postnatal care service utilization. Hence, it is recommended to offer post natal counseling to mother immidaitely after giving birth and to encourage hasband’s to have higher education level to increase postnatal care service utilization.
