Browsing by Author "Amungulu, Mhingana Ester"

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    An investigation of factors affecting utilisation of antenatal care services among women in post-natal wards in Namibian hospitals. A case study of Intermediate Katutura and Windhoek Central Hospitals
    (University of Namibia, 2022) Amungulu, Mhingana Ester
    Antenatal care services are the care provided by skilled health-care professionals to pregnant women to ensure the best health for both mother and baby during pregnancy and after delivery. Utilisation is a quantification or description of the use of services by persons to prevent and cure health problems, promoting maintenance of health and well being, or obtaining information about one's health status and prognosis. In Namibia utilisation of antenatal care services has been reported to be dropping from 97% in 2013 to 91% in 2016. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the utilisation of antenatal care services among women in post-natal wards at the Intermediate Katutura Hospital and Windhoek Central Hospital in Khomas region. The objectives of the study were to investigate the factors affecting the utilisation of ANC services and to investigate association of the factors affecting utilisation of antenatal care services among the mothers admitted in the postnatal wards at the selected hospitals. A quantitative approach and a cross-sectional analytical design were used to carry out the study. The population of the study was all mothers who delivered and were admitted to the postnatal ward of Intermediate Hospital Katutura and Windhoek Central Hospital during the time of the study. Data were collected from a total sample of 320 mothers using self-administered structured questionnaires. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 25 software. Desc'riptive statistics were used to analyse factors influencing the utilisation of ANC services among the respondents. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to investigate the association between categorical variables in the study. The back ward stepwise Binary logistic regression was used to predict the odds of not utilizing ANC based on the values of the independent variables (predictor). The participants of the study were aged between 18 years and 42 years with a mean age of 27 years. The result shows that 229 (71.6%) utilised ANC while 91(28.4%) did not utilise ANC services. Utilisation of ANC was significantly associated with women's attitude toward the current pregnancy (p-value 0.0 14). The study identified factors that affect utilisation of ANC services such as age, marital status, mothers education, partner's formal education, negative attitude of health care providers, long distance to and from ANC health care facilities, fear of HIV test and results, Covid-19 regulations, inability to determine the pregnancy at the earlier stages and financial constraints. Based on this study findings, it is recommended that the utilisation of ANC might be improved through effective community mobilisation and outreach of maternity services to educate and improve awareness on the importance of ANC. Furthermore, qualitative research utilising interviews may be conducted for the in depth feedback from participants. Finally, a countrywide study may be conducted to reflect the true picture of antenatal care utilisation in Namibia