Publications

Postnatal care can help identify common life-threatening complications and reduce infectionafter child mortality. Despite the significant role postnatal care services play in improvingmaternal health, services are underutilized in most developing countries including Uganda.Hence, it is important to identify factors that facilitate or impede postnatal care serviceutilization. The aim of this study was to assess factors influencing postnatal care servicesutilization among mothers attending PNC at Alerek Health center III, Abim District. This wasa cross-sectional study conducted on 96 mothers who had given birth to live babies a yearprior to the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Data were cleaned,coded and entered into Microsoft excel then analysed using SPSS v.20. Bivariate andmultivariate logistic regression analysis was done to ascertain the relationship betweendependent and independent variables. Descriptive statistics were presented in the form offrequency tables and figures. Out of 96 respondents that participated in the study, themajority of the study participants were aged 21-30 years (64.5%), had no formal education(75.0%) and were married (70.8%). Utilization of PNC according to the study was 44.8%.Knowledge of PNC and affordability were significantly associated with PNC utilization. Thestudy further observed a significant association between distances to health center, waitingtime at the health facility with utilization of PNC services among women. Utilization ofpostnatal care services is still low. Predictors of postnatal care utilization include knowledgeof PNC, affordability, distance to the health centre and waiting time at the health facility