EVALUATING SOCIO-CULTURAL BARRIERS TO ANTENATAL CARE UTILIZATION AMONG REPRODUCTIVE AGE WOMEN IN WUSHISHI AND ZUNGERU COMMUNITIES IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA: A LOGISTIC REGRESSION APPROACH

Abstract

More than 33% of Nigerian pregnant women do not use the Antenatal Care service during pregnancy. In 2015, for instance, World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that only 61% of Nigerian pregnant women had attended ANC at least once during their pregnancy period. Only 51% of these women met the WHO standard of a minimum of 4 visits. This ANC rate is, without doubt, lower than the WHO African region average of 77%. The situation in Wushishi and Zungeru communities of Niger State may not be different. Despite the number of health facilities available in these communities, some women of childbearing age do not access antenatal care. Most times, many of them lose their lives during delivery at home, some end up with complications or lose their babies at births. This situation raised concern why pregnant women do not attend antenatal care in health facilities around them? This paper examined the socio-cultural impediments to accessing antenatal care services among reproductive-aged women in Wushishi and Zungeru Communities of Niger State. We used a Multivariate Logistic Analysis. A total of 150 subjects were involved in this study comprising 83 from Zungeru and 67 from Wushishi. The questionnaire used for data collection was a structured consist of 17 items. The results indicated that ethnicity and preference for traditional birth attendant are major influences to accessing ANC in these communities