Tilahun Saol, Zeleke Argaw, Wolde Facha
Background: Maternal mortality ratios strongly reflect the overall effectiveness of health systems. Many low-income developing countries were suffering from maternal mortality and almost more than -half of the deaths take place within the postnatal period. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of postnatal care utilization and its associated factors among mothers who delivered within the last twelve months in Sodo Zuria District of Wolaita Zone; Southern Ethiopia, 2016.
Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study design was employed among mothers who delivered within the last twelve months. A total sample size of 394 was used. The study was conducted from March to April 2016. Variables that have statistically significant at bivariate logistic regression with p-value <0.2 were entered into the multiple logistic regression model. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: Postnatal coverage of the Sodo Zuria district was 77.7%. Place of delivery, decision- maker for PNC utilization, mothers with one live, and mode of health delivery systems were statistically significant factors for postnatal care utilization. Mothers who decided to follow PNC by their own and with their husband were 14.08 times [AOR=14.08, 95% CI: (2.278-86.98)] and 4.74 times [AOR=4.74, 95% CI: (1.179-19.04] more likely utilized postnatal care as compared with for those their husbands decided about their wives respectively.
Conclusion and Recommendation: Postnatal care service utilization in our study area was high. Those mothers who able to decide postnatal service utilization by themselves had a small number of children and delivered the recent child in a health facility were more likely to utilize postnatal care service than their counterparts. Therefore, the concerned body should emphasize on women empowerment and institutional delivery to foster postnatal care service utilization.