ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Giving birth at the health facility is a solitary way of decreasing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, especially in developing countries. Despite a prodigious public health effort, many women are still giving birth at home in Ethiopia either by traditional birth attendants or relatives. The Covid-19 pandemic exerted tragic consequences worldwide almost in all aspects of human life. As a result, the pandemic could affect the use of health facilities for childbirth. The effect of Covid-19 on childbirth is not spoken to the study area yet. MATERIALS: Community-based mixed quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study was conducted among mothers with the experience of childbirth during Covid-19. The data were collected using a structured pre-tested questionnaire with systematic random sampling through face-to-face interviews and focused group discussion from September 1-30, 2020. The edited and coded data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and transformed into SPSS version 21 for further analysis. Descriptive analyses like frequency and percentages were used to describe the study result. Tables were used to present the data, and the qualitative study narration was applied to interpret the output. RESULTS: From the total of 232 study participants who experienced childbirth during Covid-19, 69.4% of them gave birth at a health institution, 204 (87.9%) of them had a positive attitude, 210 (90.5%) had awareness, and 186 (80%) have good practice of giving birth at a health facility. Fear of Covid-19 (50.7%), cultural ceremonies, low level of the economy, distance to the health facility, challenging roads for transportation, and fear of episiotomy were factors stated for nonutilization of health facility for childbirth. CONCLUSION: From mothers who gave birth at home, more than half of the mothers desist from using a health facility for childbirth care due to the frustration of Covid-19. As a result, awareness creation regarding Covid-19 shall be considered. Besides, the socio-cultural features shall be taken into contemplation, and mediations must be endorsed in health institution setups to make them feel at home.