Spatio-Temporal Distributions of Ante-natal Care Utilization and Hospital Deliveries in Jigawa North-West Senatorial District

Abstract

Background: Antenatal care utilization and hospital deliveries is still low in Nigeria; this underutilization varies from region to region and from state to state. This study examined the spatio-temporal distributions of ANC utilization and hospital deliveries in Jigawa north-west senatorial district. Methods: The study employed a retrospective audit of 207,688 ANC utilisations at the four available general hospitals in the study area from 2010-2015, it included all pregnancy related deaths that occurred within the period of study.  The study was carried out in three Gunduma council areas in Jigawa State. Required data was obtained from the hospital base records. Results: The results reveal that there were a total of 207,688 ANC services utilisation reported within the study period (2010-2015) and spatially distributed in the Gunduma areas as follows; RingimGunduma area had120,711 (58.12%), GumelGunduma Area 48,251, (23.23%) and KazaureGunduma area with 38,726(18.7%). Out, 207,688 ANC utilisations, only 73,975(36%) of the women delivered in hospitals and a total of 1,006(1.4%) women were dead in which (86.1%) had their ANC visit of at least one time. Those who have never attended any ANC visit have the considerable percentage (13.9%). There is no significant relationship between ANC visits and the parity (number of deliveries) of a woman (X²= 46.813, df = 44, the p-value = 0.368). This indicated no significant relationship between the ANC visits and the parity of the women. Conclusion: Efforts towards ensuring the utilization of ANC should be targeted towards the areas where no facilities, the importance of modern antenatal care should be emphasized even in the community settings and older women (multiparas) should be encouraged to utilize antenatal care services.