Desire for Birth Companionship Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care in Debremarkos City, Northwest Ethiopia: Magnitude and Associated Factors.

Background: Birth companionship is one of the components of the respectful maternity continuum of care recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Women's desire for birth companionship needs to be given attention during the antenatal care period to make them ready during labor and delivery. There is a dearth of study about the status of women's desire for birth companionship and associated factors. Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of desire for birth companionship and associated factors among pregnant women in Debremarkos city, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 1, 2021 to March 30, 2021 in Debremarkos city, northwest Ethiopia. A total of 423 participants were accessed by systematic random sampling. A face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaire was employed. The data were entered into Epi data version 4.6 and transformed to SPSS version 25. Binary logistic regression analysis was done, and variables with a p-value ≤ 0.2 on bivariable analysis were taken for multivariable analysis. Adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to detect the association, and a p-value of <0.05 in the multivariable analysis was used to declare statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of desire for birth companionship was 57.45% (52.6-62.2%). Women who were the primary decision-maker for maternal health care services [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =3.0; 95% CI 1.7-5.6], women with planned pregnancy (AOR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.0-3.9), women who have no bad obstetric history (AOR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.2-4.4), and women whose 1st antenatal care visit starts within the second trimester (AOR = 2.6; 1.6-4.4) were statistically significant with desire on birth companionship. Conclusions: Desire of pregnant women for birth companionship was high in this study. Improving women's decision-making power, emphasis on the type of pregnancy, obstetrical history, and early initiation of antenatal care visit were the suggested areas to increase the desire of women for birth companionship.

Immediate Postnatal Care Satisfaction and Associated Factors Among Postnatal Women in Public Health Facilities at Debre Markos Town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2021.

BACKGROUND: Immediate postnatal care (PNC) satisfaction is considered as the desired outcome of the health care system and determines the use of subsequent health care services. There is a paucity of evidence on the level of immediate PNC satisfaction in the study setting. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the level of immediate PNC satisfaction and associated factors among women who gave birth in Debre Markos town public health institutions, northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1 to February 28, 2021, and a systematic sampling technique was used to select the postnatal women. An interviewer-administered pretested structured tool was used. The level of immediate PNC satisfaction was measured by Jipi's postnatal satisfaction with the nursing care questionnaire (JPSNQ). The collected data were entered into EpiData version 4.6.0 and exported to SPSS version 23 for management and analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis were applied. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and statistical significance was declared at P-value <0.05. RESULTS: A total of 389 postnatal mothers participated in this study with a response rate of 98.73%. Immediate PNC satisfaction was 60.90% (95%CI: 56.50-65.60). Postnatal women having multiparity (AOR=7.31, 95%CI: 4.40-12.17), four and more antenatal care (ANC) visits (AOR=1.90, 95%CI: 1.08-3.36), satisfied by delivery care (AOR=2.05, 95%CI: 1.24-3.40), received friendly care (AOR=7.72, 95%CI: 2.42-13.52) and having companion (AOR=2.48, 95%CI: 1.37-4.50) had higher likelihood of immediate PNC satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Women's satisfaction with immediate PNC was higher than the national achievements of targets for the client satisfaction. Therefore, health-care providers should encourage frequent ANC visits, friendly care, and companionship to increase the level of immediate PNC satisfaction.

Labor Companionship in Labor and Delivery at Debremarkos Town Public Health Facilities: Magnitude and Associated Factors.

BACKGROUND: Labor companionship is a human interactive process that provides social support during the childbirth process. Despite it being one component of respectful maternity care (RMC) that is used for quality assurance to achieve the sustainable goal of maternal and neonatal mortality reduction, there is limited evidence about the current status of birth companionship. The study was aimed to assess labor companion and its associated factors at Debremarkos town public health facilities. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted. The study was conducted at Debremarkos town from February 1/2021 to March 30/2021. From the 559 sample size, 548 women participated in the study. A systematic random sampling technique was used. A pre-tested interviewer-administered questioner was used, data were entered and analyzed with Epi-data version 4.60 and SPSS version 25.0. Bivariable regression was done and variables with p-value

Pregnant women's preference and factors associated with institutional delivery service utilization in Debra Markos Town, North West Ethiopia: a community based follow up study.

BACKGROUND: Majority of deaths from obstetric complications are preventable. But every pregnant woman face risks which may not always be detected through the risk assessment approach during antenatal care (ANC). Therefore, the presence of a skilled birth attendant in every delivery is the most critical intervention in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. In Ethiopia the proportion of births attended by skilled personnel, is very low, even for women who have access to the services. METHODS: A community-based follow up study was conducted from January 17, 2012 to July 30, 2012, among 2(nd) and 3(rd) trimester's pregnant women in Debre-Markos town, east Gojam Zone, Amhara Region, North West Ethiopia. Simple random sampling technique was used to get a total sample size of 422 participants. RESULTS: A total of 393 pregnant women were included in the study. The study revealed that 292(74.3%) of the pregnant women planned to deliver in a health institution. Of these 292 pregnant women 234 (80.14%) actually delivered in a health facility. Age range from 15-19 year (AOR = 4.83, 95% CI = 1.562-12.641), college and above education of the pregnant women (AOR = 12.508, 95% CI = 1.082-14.557), ANC visit during the current pregnancy (AOR = 1.975, 95% CI = 1.021-3.392),perceived susceptibility and severity of pregnancy and delivery complication (AOR = 3.208, 95% CI = 1.262-8.155) and intention (preference) of pregnant women for place of delivery (AOR = 7.032, 95% CI = 3.045-10.234) are predictors of institutional delivery service utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Preference for institutional delivery is low in the study area. Sociodemographic factors, perception about delivery complication, ANC follow up and their intentions for institutional delivery are among important predictors of institutional delivery.

Comprehensive knowledge about cervical cancer is low among women in Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the first most common cancer in women in sub-Saharan Africa followed by breast cancer. In Ethiopia, the incidence of cervical cancer is high i.e. 35.9 per 100,000 women. Low level of awareness, lack of effective screening programs, overshadowed by other health priorities (such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, tuberculosis and malaria) and insufficient attention to women's health are the possible factors for the observed higher incidence rate of cervical cancers in the country. Data on knowledge of Ethiopian women regarding cervical cancer is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of women about cervical cancer and associated factors. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional survey was conducted from April 4-16, 2010 in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 633 women aged 15 years and above were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire by 8 trained data collectors and 2 supervisors. SPSS Windows version 15.0 was employed for data entry and analysis. RESULT: Of all the respondents, 495 (78.7%) of them had heard about cervical cancer and only 195 (31%) of them were knowledgeable about the disease. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of women on cervical cancer was found to be poor. Education about the disease must include information on risk factors, sign and symptoms of cervical cancer.