Timely initiation of antenatal care and its associated factors among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa: A multicountry analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Timely initiation of antenatal care (ANC) is an important component of ANC services that improve the health of the mother and the newborn. Mothers who begin attending ANC in a timely manner, can fully benefit from preventive and curative services. However, evidence in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) indicated that the majority of pregnant mothers did not start their first visit timely. As our search concerned, there is no study that incorporates a large number of sub-Saharan Africa countries. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of timely initiation of ANC and its associated factors in 36 sSA countries.

Methods

The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 36 sSA countries were used for the analysis. The total weighted sample of 233,349 women aged

SUBMITTER: Alem AZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8746770 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature