Abstract:
Introduction: Focus Antenatal Care (FANC) and health facility skilled delivery are very vital issues to consider when dealing with matters of maternal mortality. Therefore perceived quality of these services and their relatedness cannot be overlooked when assessing patronage levels of these services. Records of non-patronage among some individuals still remain high in some communities. It is in this direction that this study sought to identify the relationship between receiving FANC and preference of place of delivery among pregnant women in the Nankese Sub-Municipality of the Suhum municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Methods:The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods where interview guide and a semi-structured questionnaire were tools for data collection. Data were obtained from 340 respondents and five (5) key informantsof which four were health facility workers and one community member to ascertain institutional based factors that could contribute to FANC attendance and facility based delivery. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to analyze quantitative data whereas thematic content analysis was employed for the qualitative findings.
Results: The study found that women in the municipality had positive perceptions about FANC as the majority (99.7%) indicated its importance in areas of maternal and child health. There was a significantrelationship between FANC attendance and place of delivery among mothers (p<0.0001). Further, FANC attendance influenced the choice of place of delivery due to the quality of care they received at the facility in terms of medication, education and birth preparedness.
Conclusions: Themajority of the mothers in this study had positive attitudes towards FANC. Employment status, distance to health facility and coverage under NHIS related with the attendance to FANC, and FANC attendance positively related with the place of delivery. These findings highlight the need for education on FANC services and the allocation of resources to enhance the delivery of effective FANC services to mothers.
