KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF PREGNANT WOMEN TOWARDS ANTENATAL CARE SERVICES AND ITS UTILILIZATION

Abstract

Appropriate antenatal care is one of the pillars of safe motherhood initiative, a worldwide effort launch by the World Health Organisation and other collaborating agencies aimed to reduce the number of death associated with pregnancy and child birth.All pregnant women are recommended to go for their first antenatal check up in the first trimester to identify and to manage any medical complication that may affect the progress and outcome of their pregnancy.The study was conducted at Nkawie Toase Government Hospital. The study employ quantitative approach and descriptive exploratory design to examine the level of knowledge of attitude of pregnant women towards antenatal care service and its utilization.Purposive sampling techniques was used in selecting 150 respondents from the ANC clinic. Questionnaires were given to respondents and SPSS tool in Microsoft Excel were used in analysing data collected. In our findings it was revealed that the knowledge and importance of A&C does not seem to be directly related to early initiation or utilization of ANC.This study identify that expectant mothers had positive attitude towards ANC service despite the intimidation they face from health care providers during clinic. It was concluded that majority of women are aware of ANC services but they have low level of knowledge about the service rendered.