Skip to main content

Type of occupation and early antenatal care visit among women in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Background

Type of occupation has been linked to early antenatal care visits whereby women in different occupation categories tend to have different timing for antenatal care visits. Different occupations require varying levels of commitment, remuneration and energy requirements. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the association between the type of occupation and early antenatal care visits in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods

This is a secondary analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from 29 countries in sub-Saharan Africa conducted between 2010 and 2018. The study included 131,912 working women. We employed binary logistic regression models to assess the association between type of occupation and timely initiation of antenatal care visits.

Results

The overall prevalence of early initiation of antenatal care visits was 39.9%. Early antenatal care visit was high in Liberia (70.1%) but low in DR Congo (18.6%). We noted that compared to managerial workers, women in all other work categories had lower odds of early antenatal care visit and this was prominent among agricultural workers [aOR = 0.74, CI = 0.69, 0.79]. Women from Liberia [aOR = 3.14, CI = 2.84, 3.48] and Senegal [aOR = 2.55, CI = 2.31, 2.81] had higher tendency of early antenatal care visits compared with those from Angola.

Conclusion

The findings bring to bear some essential elements worth considering to enhance early antenatal care visits within sub-Saharan Africa irrespective of the type of occupation. Women in the agricultural industry need much attention in order to bridge the early antenatal care visit gap between them and workers of other sectors. A critical review of the maternal health service delivery in DR Congo is needed considering the low rate of early antenatal care visits.

Peer Review reports

Background

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the World Health Organization (WHO) regions with the highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR) worldwide [1]. Antenatal care (ANC) has been recognised as a promising strategy for averting threats that compromise the health of pregnant women and subsides MMR prospects [2, 3]. ANC is “the care provided by skilled health-care professionals to pregnant women and adolescent girls in order to ensure the best health conditions for both mother and baby during pregnancy” [4]. The WHO conceives early ANC as the initial visit occurring within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy [4]. Early ANC is recommended for all pregnant women irrespective of occupation, socio-economic status, geographical location, parity inter alia. Prevention and management of pregnancy-related diseases, risk identification, health education and health promotion are some of the core components of ANC [4, 5]. ANC reduces the likelihood of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in two principal ways-by identifying and treating pregnancy-related complications and through identification of women who are at higher risk of labour and delivery complications [6,7,8].

Early ANC is observed to be low in SSA [9]. Globally, SSA is the penultimate region with lowest early ANC visit coverage (24·9% [22·6–27·2]) after Oceania [10]. Reports of recent Demographic and Health Surveys have revealed same. For instance, 18%, 20% and 37% of women are reported to have obtained early ANC in Nigeria [11], Ethiopia [12] and Zambia [13] respectively. A considerable section of women in SSA tend to delay and commence ANC in the second or third trimester [14]. It is known that education [15], younger age [16, 17], family income [18] and residential status [19, 20] dictate the timing of ANC.

Occupational type has also been linked with early ANC initiation whereby women who work in particular professions seem to have early ANC visits [14, 21]. This is believed to be enhanced by the relative economic advantage associated with particular occupations over others [9, 21]. Maternal health care is cost-free in a number of sub-Saharan African countries [22, 23]. Depending on a woman’s occupation type, some women seem to have relative economic advantage to pay the additional expenses such as those originating from transportation [22, 24] laboratory tests and screening [23] and unauthorised charges levied by some healthcare providers [25]. The aforementioned studies have principally investigated occupational status (working or not working) without exploring early ANC initiation across the type of occupation (such as services, agriculture and clergy).

Due to that, whether the driving and inhibition factors of early ANC visits vary across women’s occupations seem unexplored in SSA. Meanwhile, different occupations have different commitment levels, time requirements, remuneration, and energy requirements [26, 27]. This study, therefore, proposes that the type of occupation women engage in may have varying implications on their prospects of attaining early ANC visits. Investigating early ANC visits by type of occupation, as this study seeks to achieve, is of utmost priority for maternal health in order to develop pertinent demand-driven, well-tailored and fit for purpose interventions that can support all category of career women to achieve timely ANC visits in SSA and other developing WHO regions.

Methods

Study design and data source

This study analysed a secondary data from working women of reproductive ages (n = 131,192) who had complete information on ANC attendance from the latest Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 2010 and 2018 across 29 countries in SSA (see Table 1). The survey was designed to collect and provide data on various demographic indicators such as maternal healthcare services utilization [28]. The data collected through DHS are robust, helpful in health research and are used to study and monitor prevalence, pattern and trends of health information in low- and middle-income countries [29]. To select the sample, two multi-stage stratified cluster sampling methods were employed and the eligible respondents were selected from rural and urban areas in the various countries. Data were collected from women, men, couples and children by using different questionnaires. Standard methods such as the use of experienced field staff and validated instruments were employed to test the validity and reliability of the DHS questionnaires. The details of the DHS are documented by Corsi, Neuman, Finlay and Subramanian [30]. The datasets for the DHS are available at http://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm.

Table 1 Description of Study Sample

Derivation of variables

Outcome variable

The outcome variable of the study was early ANC attendance. It was derived from the question “How many months pregnant were you when you first received antenatal care for this pregnancy?” The responses were in months. It was then dichotomised as early initiation of ANC = 1, that is if women reported attending ANC at 3 months or earlier and late initiation = 0, after 3 months [31, 32].

Independent variable

Type of occupation was the independent variable [33]. It was generated from the question “What is your occupation, that is, what kind of work do you mainly do?” Occupation was captured as ‘not working (0)’, ‘managerial (1)’, ‘clerical (2)’, ‘sales (3)’, ‘agricultural (4)’, ‘household (5)’, ‘services (6)’ and ‘manual (7)’. We excluded those who were not working to align the sample to the focus of the study.

Control variables

Fifteen control variables were considered in our study. These are country, age, educational level, marital status, religion, wealth quintile, place of residence, parity, pregnancy intention, exposure to mass media (radio, television and newspaper) and getting medical help for self (getting permission to go, getting money needed for treatment and distance to health facility). Apart from country of origin, the rest of the variables were not determined a priori; instead, based on parsimony, theoretical relevance and practical significance with early initiation of ANC [3, 19, 31, 32, 34]. Marital status was recoded into never married, married, cohabiting, widowed and divorced. We recoded parity as one birth (1), two births (2), three births (3), and four or more births (4). We recoded religion as Christianity (1), Islam (2), Traditionalist (3), and no religion (4).

Statistical analyses

The data were analysed with stata version 14.2 for Mac OS. The analysis was done in three steps. The first step was the computation of the prevalence of early initiation of ANC among working women in SSA (see Fig. 1). The second step was a bivariate analysis that calculated the prevalence of early initiation of ANC across the socio-demographic characteristics with their significance levels at p < 0. 05 (Table 2). Afterwards, two logistic regression models were built. Model I was a bivariate analysis between the key independent variable, women’s occupation, and early ANC attendance. Model II controlled for the effect of country and all the socio-demographic variables in a multivariable logistic regression (see Table 3). All frequency distributions were weighted while the survey command (svy) in stata was used to adjust for the complex sampling structure of the data in the regression analyses. Multicollinearity was checked and there was no evidence of multicollinearity among the variables (Max VIF = 2.06; mean VIF = 1.38). All results of the logistic analyses were presented as crude odds ratios (cORs for Model I) and adjusted odds ratios (aORs for Model II) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Prevalence of early initiation of antenatal care among working women in sub-Saharan Africa

Table 2 Type of occupation, socio-demographic characteristics and prevalence of early antenatal care visit among women in sub-Saharan Africa (n = 131,912)

Results

Descriptive results

Figure 1 is a graphical presentation of early initiation of ANC among women in SSA. Early initiation of ANC among working women across SSA stood at 39.9%. However, early initiation of ANC was high among Liberian women (70.1%) and low among women in DR Congo (18.6%).

Table 2 displays results on type of occupation, socio-demographic characteristics and early ANC attendance among working women in SSA. It was found that a significant proportion of women who were into managerial occupation (53.0%) had early ANC, with those into Agriculture (36.9%) being the least to initiate ANC early. The prevalence of early initiation was similar for working women of all ages though slightly higher for those in 25–29 age bracket (41.2%). Those with higher education dominated in early ANC initiation (54.1%). Cohabiting women had the highest proportion of ANC visits (44.9%) just as Traditionalists (41.7%). The richest (50.5%) as well as urban residents (45.9%) had high early commencement of ANC visits. The results indicated that 44.5% of women at parity one initiated ANC visits early. Again, 41.6% of women who considered their pregnancy as a planned one had early initiation of ANC visits, just as women whose household heads were females (42.1%).

Additionally, 72.3% and 57.2% of women who read newspaper/magazine and watched television almost every day respectively, initiated ANC visits early. In the same vein, those that listened to radio almost every day (55.2%) dominated in early initiation of ANC visits. Women who considered getting permission to utilise existing medical assistance as not a problem were the highest (47.1%) to commence early ANC visits. In a similar manner, those that felt getting money needed for seeking medical treatment is not a problem (44.4%) as well as women that considered distance to health facility as not a problem (48.7%) topped early initiation of ANC visits. From the chi-square tests, type of occupation and the control variables were statistically significantly associated with early initiation of ANC, as can be seen from Table 2.

Logistic regression results

Table 3 displays the inferential results of the study. Compared to managerial workers, women in all other work categories had lower odds of early ANC initiation and this was phenomenal among agricultural workers [cOR = 0.53, CI = 0.51, 0.56] and this continued after adjusting for the covariates [aOR = 0.74, CI = 0.69, 0.79]. Women from Liberia [aOR = 3.14, CI = 2.84,3.48] and Comoros [aOR = 2.56, CI = 2.14,3.07] had higher tendency of early ANC visits compared with those from Angola. Women aged 35–39[aOR = 1.38, CI = 1.28,1.48], and 40-44 [aOR = 1.38, CI = 1.28,1.50], were most inclined to early initiation of ANC visits as compared with those aged 15–19 just as among those with higher education as compared with those with no formal education [aOR = 1.49, CI = 1.37,1.61]. The analysis also revealed that the married women had a higher propensity of early ANC visits as compared to the never married [aOR = 1.30, CI = 1.23,1.38]. It was evident that the likelihood of early ANC visits among women decreased across religions especially among those who were not affiliated to any religion as compared to the Christians [aOR = 0.80, CI = 0.74,0.87]. The richest were most probable to commence ANC early as compared with the poorest [aOR = 1.44, CI = 1.36,1.51]. Furthermore, the rural residents were more likely to start ANC early as compared with the urban residents [aOR = 1.08, CI = 1.04,1.12]. Moreover, the probability to initiate ANC visit early declined among women at various parities especially among those at parity four or more compared with those at parity one [aOR = 0.67, CI = 0.63,0.70], as can be seen from Table 3.

Table 3 Logistic regression analysis on women’s occupation and early ANC visit in SSA

Furthermore, those that considered their pregnancies as unwanted were least likely to have early ANC visit compared with those that judged theirs as planned [aOR = 0.78, CI = 0.74,0.82]. The propensity to early ANC initiation was higher among women whose household head was a female compared with those having male as household head [aOR = 1.09, CI = 1.05,1.12]. Also, those that read newspaper/magazine almost every day were most likely to have early ANC visit as compared with those that do not read newspaper/magazine at all [aOR = 1.25, CI = 1.06,1.47]. Those that watched television almost every day were inclined to early ANC initiations compared to their counterparts who did not watch television at all [aOR = 1.27, CI = 1.18,1.36]. Similarly, women that listened to radio almost every day were most likely to commence ANC early compared with those who did not listen to radio at all [aOR = 1.09, CI = 1.01,1.17]. Finally, the results indicated that those that judged that getting money needed for treatment was not a big problem were most likely to initiate ANC early than those that considered it as no problem [aOR = 1.33, CI = 1.12,1.57], as shown in Table 3.

Discussion

Despite the scale-up of ANC services in SSA, a growing body of knowledge shows different level of adoption [4, 10]. Hence, the focus of this study was to investigate maternal occupational type and early ANC initiation in SSA. Our findings show that Liberia had the highest early ANC visit while DR Congo had the least. This finding is in line with a prior study in Ethiopia, where a prevalence of was recorded [35], Nigeria [19], and Ethiopia [17]. However, prevalence of our study was lower compared to Gulema et al. [36] study in Ethiopia, Paudel, Jha, and Mehata [34] study in Nepal and Moller et al. [10] study among women in developed countries. The inconsistency in the findings could be due to the scope, time gap and other methodological variations between our study and the other studies compared. We also observed regional variations in early ANC visits, which could be due to difference in women socioeconomic status, government health policies, and different cultural orientations within SSA.

We observed a trend of increasing early ANC attendance in recent times. The rise in early ANC visits within SSA may be due to some initiatives by governments of SSA countries. For instance, WHO [1] reports that tremendous investment has been made in the Liberian healthcare sector by stakeholder organisations and the government after the civil war. These investments might have helped improved maternal healthcare services leading to high ANC initiation as observed in this study [37]. Similarly, the Government of Ghana in 2005 initiated a maternal health policy with free maternal health services at ANC [24] meant to remove economic inequalities especially for rural women. Where such similar healthcare policies exist such as Nigeria [38], Tanzania [39] and Kenya [40] increased early ANC more probable. It is therefore our advocacy that governments and policy makers within the sub region consider eliminating all forms of economic, sociocultural, political and structural barriers that might impede women’s access and utilisation of early ANC services.

Also, women from Liberia and Comoros had higher tendency to commence early ANC visits compared with those from Angola. The reasons for such disparities cannot possibly be fathomed without further investigation. Yet it is sound to reason that Liberia and Comoros could have enhanced facilitators to maternal ANC utilisation incentives coupled with limited barriers to maternal ANC services utilisation. For instance, a report by Agence Francaise De Development [AFD] [41] show the Government of Comoros and its development partner France has consistently over the period invested heavily in the healthcare sector to increase access to health facilities, reduce financial barriers by providing financial incentives for obstetric care and many maternal health services. This according to the same report has led to the decrease in infant and maternal mortalities in Comoros and increase ANC utilisation among others. Such opportunity may be absent in other sub regional countries, and could be the driving force for early ANC visit in Comoros. We suggest to other SSA governments and policy analysts to under study these two countries for best practices that are influencing early maternal ANC visits.

Besides, our findings showed that women in all other work categories had lower odds of early ANC initiation and this was phenomenal among agricultural workers. A possible inference is that women in managerial positions have much more enablers to early ANC visit. This is possible because managerial mothers may have acquired the necessary educational and economic empowerments which is observed in previous studies to be associated with early ANC [24]. This finding is consistent with the National Survey analysis by Saad-Haddad et al. [42] that mothers’ occupational status significantly affects maternal early ANC visits. Implications of this finding is that, despite the introduction of the free maternal health policy in some SSA countries to enable mothers meet the recommended WHO early ANC visit, there are s still challenges partly influenced by monetary capabilities where highly placed occupational mothers can access maternal health services compared to other occupational types [22, 24]. This has been observed in our finding where mothers who revealed that getting money needed for treatment was not a big problem and richest mothers were most likely to have early ANC visit. This corroborates Akowuah et al. [23] and Arthur’s [24] findings that wealth significantly influences early ANC visit among mothers. It is thus imperative for SSA countries without social interventions that can enhance early ANC visit to introduce social interventions and provide sustainable jobs to women so as to remove financial barriers to maternal health service utilisation.

Again, our findings show that women aged 40–44 were inclined to early ANC visits compared to aged 15–19. Inferring from Grossman model of prediction, which states that age increases the rate of depreciation of one’s health [43], that is, older mothers may be prone to certain health conditions including pregnancy complications, and may therefore be motivated to initiate early ANC. Similarly, evidence from a qualitative study by Pell et al. [25], in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi support our finding that younger adolescents do not initiate early ANC as recommended by WHO compared to older adults. Additionally, other quantitative studies in Ethiopia [3], Finland [44] and India [45] add credence to our finding that older women initiate early ANC compared to younger mothers. We reasoned with Pell et al. [25] that, due to social stigma and repercussions of teen pregnancy (i.e., drop out from school), adolescents are hesitant in disclosing pregnancy and may hinder early ANC initiation. This calls for segregated adolescent friendly ANC clinics to improve early maternal ANC among adolescents, which consequently may help reduce morbidities and mortalities among adolescent mothers and their new-borns. On the contrary, some scholars indicate that younger mothers reported early ANC utilisation in discordance with our findings [3, 24, 46]. The difference in the findings could be due to some methodological variations such as sample size differentials. We suggest that SSA governments and policy makers be critical on age demography, especially in maternal ANC services provision in order to meet sustainable development goal 3 and 5 [47].

Women who considered their pregnancies as unwanted were least likely to early initiate ANC compared with those that judged theirs as planned. This finding resonates previous studies [19, 48, 49]. In a similar finding, Alemu and Aragaw [19] adduced that a woman who is yearning for a child would likely initiate early ANC once diagnosed of being pregnant. However, a woman carrying an unwanted pregnancy might already be contemplating on terminating the pregnancy and so would not see the need to engage in early ANC to protect the gestation of something she does not want [50].

The propensity to initiate early ANC was higher among women whose household head was a female compared with those having a male as household head. Essentially, for a pregnant woman to seek permission from someone else especially the opposite sex, is a disincentive to early ANC initiation [51]. So, for women to access and obtain optimum health at ANC, their independent decision-making may be essential.

Our findings revealed that mothers with higher education, those who resides in rural areas, those who were exposed to mass media (i.e., radio, reading newspaper/magazine and watching television daily) were likely to initiate early ANC. Arthur [24] similarly found that women who had higher education, and women who listen to radio and watches television daily had early ANC visit. It is possible that most non-educated mothers may reside in rural areas which are mostly deprived of health facilities and the right tailored media information [52]. Although women in urban locations may have better geographical access to health facilities compared with rural residents, hectic traffic and heavy workloads could compromise the ability of urban women from having early ANC. Notwithstanding, a systematic review on rural residence and early ANC initiation concluded inconsistent with our finding [53] which could be due to contextual factors.

Another significant finding of our study was the propensity of married women to initiate early ANC compared to the never married. This could be reasoned that the married women may have their partners support (i.e. financial and psychosocial) which may not be available for the never married. Community action is needed to encourage men participation in ANC. Moreover, the probability of early ANC visit declined among women at various parities especially among those at parity four or more compared with those at parity one. This finding was probably expected as previous studies in SSA [3] and elsewhere [54], showed that high parity mothers exhibited late ANC visit. This finding could be influenced by maternal experience, complacency, and pregnancy risk assessment which could have far reaching consequences for both mother and fetus. Women with four or higher parity have increased risk of haemorrhage, however, most of these women are not educated on the need to prioritise ANC and subsequent health facility delivery, where blood transfusion can transpire [55, 56]. Because of this, most of these women, would erroneously perceive that they are not at risk since they had no problems in earlier pregnancies. Healthcare providers must therefore consistently educate and remind women of higher parity on the need to prioritise ANC and health facility delivery, due to their higher risk of experiencing haemorrhage and other childbirth complications.

Strengths and limitations of the study

Findings from this study were generated from high quality data gathered through the DHS Program. The sampling procedure and representativeness of the datasets strengthen the generalisability of the findings. Conversely, the cross-sectional design of the DHS limits the ability to make causal inferences between the outcome variables, however, associations can be drawn between occupation type and early ANC visit. The study presented evidence at the sub-regional level, thereby making recommendations not directly applicable at the national level. Due to this, we mentioned the specific countries in instances of extreme cases and we have also indicated in the conclusion section that implementation of our recommendations should be guided by contextual circumstances per country. Some of the variables were also self-reported, hence, there is a high tendency for social desirability and recall biases. We recommend that further studies should employ qualitative study designs and theoretical models for a better understanding of nuances surrounding type of occupation and early ANC attendance.

Conclusion

The findings show that women in managerial and clerical occupations are most likely to initiate ANC early, however, the opposite was true for women in Agricultural activities. Generally, early ANC visit is phenomenal among women of Liberia whilst DR Congo lags behind. These observations bring to bear some essential elements worth considering to enhance early ANC visits within SSA irrespective of occupation type. First, it is time to review health insurance policies across SSA to incorporate measures that can help absorb the additional cost that are currently outside the remit of the insurance policies for maternity care. Second, women in agricultural industry need much more attention in order to bridge the early ANC visit gap between them and workers of other sectors or industries. Third, critical review of the maternal health service delivery of DR Congo is needed considering the low rate of early ANC visits. A qualitative study is essential to gain a better understanding of the enablers of early ANC visits among women in managerial roles as well as barriers that compromise early ANC among agricultural workers. These recommendations should be considered with respect to country-specific contextual factors, considering the different cultural orientations, political structures and varied health systems within SSA.

Availability of data and material

The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are available in the Measure DHS repository, https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm.

Abbreviations

AFD:

Agence Francaise De Development

ANC:

Antenatal care

aOR:

Adjusted Odds Ratio

CI:

Confidence Interval

cOR :

Crude Odds Ratios

DHS :

Demographic and Health Survey

MMR:

Maternal mortality ratio

SSA :

Sub-Saharan Africa

WHO :

World Health Organisation

References

  1. World Health Organization, UNICEF. Trends in maternal Mortality: 1990–2015. Geneva: Estimates from WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division; 2015.

  2. Rosliza AM, Muhamad JJ. Knowledge, attitude and practice on antenatal care among orang asli women in Jempol, Negeri Sembilan. Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine. 2011;11(2):13–21.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Geta MB, Yallew WW. Early initiation of antenatal care and factors associated with early antenatal care initiation at health facilities in southern Ethiopia. Advances in Public Health. 2017.

  4. World Health Organization. WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016.

  5. Joshi C, Torvaldsen S, Hodgson R, Hayen A. Factors associated with the use and quality of antenatal care in Nepal: a population-based study using the demographic and health survey data. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2014;14(1):94.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. World Health Organization. The World health report: 2005: make every mother and child count. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2005.

  7. Souza JP, Gülmezoglu AM, Vogel J, Carroli G, Lumbiganon P, Qureshi Z, et al. Moving beyond essential interventions for reduction of maternal mortality (the WHO Multi-Country Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health): a cross-sectional study. Lancet. 2013;381(9879):1747–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sreelatha S, Swapnika D, Shetty RSSP, Ramaiaya R. Review of focussed antenatal care. J Evidence Based Med Healthcare. 2015;38(2):6138–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nattey C, Jinga N, Mongwenyana C, Mokhele I, Mohomi G, Fox MP, Onoya D. Understanding predictors of early antenatal care initiation in relationship to timing of HIV diagnosis in South Africa. AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2018;32(6):251–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Moller AB, Petzold M, Chou D, Say L. Early antenatal care visits: a systematic analysis of regional and global levels and trends of coverage from 1990 to 2013. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5(10):e977–83.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. National Population Commission (NPC) [Nigeria] and ICF. Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018. Abuja and Rockville: NPC and ICF; 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  12. CS Agency (CSA) [Ethiopia] and ICF. Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey 2016. Addis Ababa and Rockville: CSA and ICF; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Zambia Statistics Agency, Ministry of Health (MOH) Zambia, and ICF. Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2018. Lusaka and Rockville: Zambia Statistics Agency, Ministry of Health, and ICF; 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Wang W, Alva S, Wang S, Fort A. Levels and Trends in the Use of Maternal Health Services in Developing Countries. DHS Comparative Reports N0 26. Calverton, Maryland, USA: ICF Macro. 85; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Girum T. Assessment of Timing of First Antenatal Care Visit and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Dilla Town Governmental Health Institutions. Southern Ethiopia Altern Integr Med. 2016;5:220.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kuuire VZ, Kangmennaang J, Atuoye KN, et al. Timing and utilisation of antenatal care service in Nigeria and Malawi. Glob Public Health. 2017;12:711–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Belayneh T, Adefris M, Andargie G. Previous early antenatal service utilization improves timely booking: crosssectional study at University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia”. J Pregnancy. 2014;132494:7.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Nigatu D, Gebremariam A, Abera M, Setegn T, Deribe K. Factors associated with women’s autonomy regarding maternal and child health care utilization in Bale Zone: a community based cross-sectional study. BMC Womens Health. 2014;14(1):79.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Alemu Y, Aragaw A. Early initiations of first antenatal care visit and associated factor among mothers who gave birth in the last six months preceding birth in Bahir Dar Zuria Woreda North West Ethiopia. Reprod Health. 2018;15(1):203.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Gudayu TW, Woldeyohannes SM, Abdo AA. Timing and factors associated with first antenatal care booking among pregnant mothers in Gondar Town. Northwest Ethiopia, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2014;14:287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Simkhada B, Teijlingen E, Porter M, Simkhada P. Factors affecting the utilization of antenatal care in developing countries: systematic review of the literature. J Adv Nurs. 2008;61:244–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Hagey J, Rulisa S, Pérez-Escamilla R. Barriers and solutions for timely initiation of antenatal care in Kigali, Rwanda: Health facility professionals’ perspective. Midwifery. 2014;30(1):96–102.

  23. Akowuah JA, Agyei-Baffour P, Awunyo-Vitor D. Determinants of antenatal healthcare utilisation by pregnant women in third trimester in peri-urban Ghana. J Trop Med. 2018;2018:1673517.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Arthur E. Wealth and antenatal care use: Implications for maternal health care utilisation in Ghana. Health Econ Rev (HER). 2012;1(2):1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Pell C, Meñaca A, Were F, Afrah NA, Chatio S, Manda-Taylor L, et al. Factors affecting antenatal care attendance: results from qualitative studies in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e53747.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Vance RJ. Employee engagement and commitment. USA: SHRM foundation; 2006. p. 1–53.

  27. Social Market Foundation. Jobs of the future; 2016. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiquPKT693nAhUMxYUKHYRZBY0QFjADegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edfenergy.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fjobs-of-the-future.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1-wWokECONLMdCvnYUKYQU on 20th February, 2020.

  28. Fabic MS, Choi Y, Bird S. A systematic review of Demographic and Health Surveys: data availability and utilization for research. Bull World Health Organ. 2012;90:604–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Wagenaar BH, Sherr K, Fernandes Q, Wagenaar AC. Using routine health information systems for well-designed health evaluations in low-and middle-income countries. Health Policy Plan. 2016;31(1):129–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Corsi DJ, Neuman M, Finlay JE, Subramanian S. Demographic and health surveys: a profile. Int J Epidemiol. 2012;41(6):1602–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Manyeh AK, Amu A, Williams J, Gyapong M. Factors associated with the timing of antenatal clinic attendance among first-time mothers in rural southern Ghana. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2020;20(1):47.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Wolde HF, Tsegaye AT, Sisay MM. Late initiation of antenatal care and associated factors among pregnant women in Addis Zemen primary hospital, South Gondar, Ethiopia. Reprod Health. 2019;16(1):73.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Banchani E, Tenkorang EY. Occupational types and antenatal care attendance among women in Ghana. Health Care Women Int. 2014;35(7–9):1040–64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Paudel YR, Jha T, Mehata S. Timing of first antenatal care (ANC) and inequalities in early initiation of ANC in Nepal. Front Public Health. 2017;5:242.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Gidey G, Hailu B, Nigus K, Hailu T, Gerensea H. Timing of first focused antenatal care booking and associated factors among pregnant mothers who attend antenatal care in Central Zone, Tigray, Ethiopia. BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):608.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Gulema H, Berhane Y. Timing of first antenatal care visit and its associated factors among pregnant women attending public health facilities in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia Ethiopian journal of health sciences. 2017;27(2):139–46.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Blackstone SR. Evaluating antenatal care in Liberia: evidence from the demographic and health survey. Women Health. 2019;59(10):1141–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2019.1590496. Epub 2019.

  38. Obalum DC, Fiberesima F. Nigerian National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS): an overview. Niger Postgrad Med J. 2012;19(3):167.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Kumburu PN. National health insurance fund (NHIF) in tanzania as a tool for improving universal coverage and accessibility to health care services. Tanzania: Doctoral dissertation, Mzumbe University; 2015.

  40. Kiplagat I, Muriithi M, Kioko U. Determinants of health insurance choice in Kenya. Eur Scientific J. 2013;9(13):452–68.

  41. Agence Francaise De Development. Comoros: 12 years of comprehensive healthcare support; 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.afd.fr/en/actualites/comoros-12-years-comprehensive-healthcare-support

  42. Saad-Haddad G, DeJong J, Terreri N, Restrepo-Méndez MC, Perin J, Vaz L, Newby H, Amouzou A, Barros AJ, Bryce J. Patterns and determinants of antenatal care utilization: analysis of national survey data in seven countdown countries. J Glob Health. 2016;6(1):010404.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Elo IT. Utilisation of health-care services in Peru: the role of women’s education. Health Transit Rev. 1992;2:49–69.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Klemetti R, Gissler M, Sainio S, Hemminki E. Associations of maternal age with maternity care use and birth outcomes in primiparous women: A comparison of results in 1991 and 2008 in Finland, BJOG. Int J Obstetrics Gynaecol. 2014;121(3):356–62.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Uppadhaya SK, Agrawal N, Bhansali S, Garg K, Singh M. Utilization of antenatal health care services and its impact on birth weight of newborn in rural area of Western Rajasthan, India. Int J of Community Med Public Health. 2017;4(3):680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Owili PO, Muga MA, Chou YJ, Hsu YHE, Huang N, Chien LY. Family structure types and adequate utilization of antenatal care in Kenya. Fam Community Health. 2016;39(3):188–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Fineberg HV. “A successful and sustainable health system How to get there from here. N Engl J Med. 2012;366(11):1020–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Ewunetie AA, et al. Delay on first antenatal care visit and its associated factors among pregnant women in public health facilities of Debre Markos town, north West Ethiopia. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2018;18:173.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  49. Ebonwu J, et al. Determinants of late antenatal care presentation in rural and peri-urban communities in South Africa: a cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE. 2018;13(3):e0191903.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Warri D, George A. Perceptions of pregnant women of reasons for late initiation of antenatal care: a qualitative interview study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2020;20(1):1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Dako-Gyeke P, Aikins M, Aryeetey R, Mccough L, Adongo PB. The influence of socio-cultural interpretations of pregnancy threats on health-seeking behavior among pregnant women in urban Accra, Ghana. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2013;13(1):211.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Saad-Haddad G, DeJong J, Terreri N, et al. Patterns and determinants of antenatal care utilization: Analysis of national survey data in seven countdown countries. J Glob Health. 2016;6(1):010404.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  53. Say L, Raine R. A systematic review of inequalities in the use of maternal health care in developing countries: examining the scale of the problem and the importance of context. Bull World Health Organ. 2007;85:812–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  54. Erci B. Barriers to utilization of prenatal care services in Turkey. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2003;35:269–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Miyoshi Y, Khondowe S. Optimal parity cut-off values for predicting postpartum hemorrhage in vaginal deliveries and cesarean sections. Pan Afr Med J. 2020;37:336.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  56. Jaleel R, Khan A. Post-partum haemorrhage–a risk factor analysis. Mymensingh Med J. 2010;19(2):282–9.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to MeasureDHS for making the data available for this study.

Funding

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

A-AS conceived the idea, EKA, FS, LB, JKO, EB, FA, and BOA contributed to the analysis and development of the first draft. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward Kwabena Ameyaw.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethics Committee of ORC Macro Inc. as well as Ethics Boards of partner organisations of the various countries such as the Ministries of Health. The DHS follows the standards for ensuring the protection of respondents’ privacy. Inner City Fund (ICF) International ensured that the surveys complied with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations for the respect of human subjects. This was a secondary analysis of data and therefore no further approval was required for this study since the data is available in the public domain. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Further information about the DHS data usage and ethical standards are available at http://goo.gl/ny8T6X.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

We have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Seidu, AA., Ameyaw, E.K., Sambah, F. et al. Type of occupation and early antenatal care visit among women in sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Public Health 22, 1118 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13306-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13306-6

Keywords