Science Journal of Public Health

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Male Partners Involvement in Maternal ANC Care: The View of Women Attending ANC in Hararipublic Health Institutions, Eastern Ethiopia

Received: 28 March 2014    Accepted: 16 April 2014    Published: 30 April 2014
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Abstract

Maleinvolvement in reproductive health has recently been promoted as a promising new strategy for improving maternal and child health. This is becausetheinvolvement of men in antenatal care can play a vital role in ensuring safe pregnancy, delivery and moral support to the women.However, little attention has been placed on male parnersinvolvement in maternity care in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess male partners’ involvement in maternal ANC care and identify its associated factors among pregnant women attending their ANC in Harari Regional State of Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 385 randomly selected ANC attendees in Harari public health institutions from February to May 2011.Data were collected using interview based questions; which was then entered into Epidata and analyzed using SPSS. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated to assess factors associated with male accompany at p<0.05. The result showed that only 19.7% of the women were found to be accompanied by their spouse during their recent visit to ANC. Being a housewife (AOR=2.6, 95% CI; (1.2, 5.8)), rural residents (AOR=2.7, 95% CI; (1.2, 6.0)) and women unsupportive of male involvement in maternal care (AOR= 3.5, 95% CI; (1.2, 10)) were more likely associated with unaccompanying male partners. The major reasons reported by women for not being accompanied by their male partnerswere: a pretext that males being preoccupied with work, lack of awareness on the possible complication during pregnancy, misconception that the ANC is the concern of women’s only, males’ feeling shame to accompany them on visit and lack of responsibility. In general, the involvement of male partners in maternal ANC service was found to be low in the study area. Empowering women to have open discussion with their partners about maternal health issues and creating awareness in utilizing ANC could improve male involvement in ANC in the region.

DOI 10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17
Published in Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 2, Issue 3, May 2014)
Page(s) 182-188
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Male Partners Accompany, ANC, Maternal Health

References
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[4] Carter M: Husbands and maternal health matters in rural Guatemala: wives' reports on their spouses' involvement in pregnancy and birth. Social Science & Medicine 2002, 55(3):437-450.
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[10] Central Statistical Agency: Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Central Statistical Agency; 2011
[11] Mullick S, Kunene B, Wanjiru M: Involving men in maternity care: health service delivery issues. Agenda Special Focus 2005:124-135.
[12] Kakaire T, Kaye DK, Osinde MO: Male involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness for emergency obstetric referrals in rural Uganda. Reproductive Health 2011, 8(12): 1-7.
[13] Bhatta DN: Involvement of males in antenatal care, birth preparedness, exclusive breast feeding and immunizations for children in Kathmandu, Nepal. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth; 2013, 13(14):1-7.
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[19] Biratu BT, Lindstrom DP: The influence of husbands’ approval on women’s use of prenatal care: Results from Yirgalem and Jimma towns, south west Ethiopia EthiopJHealthDev 2006, 20(2):84-92.
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Author Information
  • Department of Public Health, College of Health and Medical sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

  • Department of Public Health, College of Health and Medical sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

  • Department of Public Health, College of Health and Medical sciences, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

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    Fekede Asefa, Ayele Geleto, Yadeta Dessie. (2014). Male Partners Involvement in Maternal ANC Care: The View of Women Attending ANC in Hararipublic Health Institutions, Eastern Ethiopia. Science Journal of Public Health, 2(3), 182-188. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17

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    Fekede Asefa; Ayele Geleto; Yadeta Dessie. Male Partners Involvement in Maternal ANC Care: The View of Women Attending ANC in Hararipublic Health Institutions, Eastern Ethiopia. Sci. J. Public Health 2014, 2(3), 182-188. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17

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    AMA Style

    Fekede Asefa, Ayele Geleto, Yadeta Dessie. Male Partners Involvement in Maternal ANC Care: The View of Women Attending ANC in Hararipublic Health Institutions, Eastern Ethiopia. Sci J Public Health. 2014;2(3):182-188. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17,
      author = {Fekede Asefa and Ayele Geleto and Yadeta Dessie},
      title = {Male Partners Involvement in Maternal ANC Care: The View of Women Attending ANC in Hararipublic Health Institutions, Eastern Ethiopia},
      journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {2},
      number = {3},
      pages = {182-188},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20140203.17},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20140203.17},
      abstract = {Maleinvolvement in reproductive health has recently been promoted as a promising new strategy for improving maternal and child health. This is becausetheinvolvement of men in antenatal care can play a vital role in ensuring safe pregnancy, delivery and moral support to the women.However, little attention has been placed on male parnersinvolvement in maternity care in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess male partners’ involvement in maternal ANC care and identify its associated factors among pregnant women attending their ANC in Harari Regional State of Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 385 randomly selected ANC attendees in Harari public health institutions from February to May 2011.Data were collected using interview based questions; which was then entered into Epidata and analyzed using SPSS. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated to assess factors associated with male accompany at p<0.05. The result showed that only 19.7% of the women were found to be accompanied by their spouse during their recent visit to ANC. Being a housewife (AOR=2.6, 95% CI; (1.2, 5.8)), rural residents (AOR=2.7, 95% CI; (1.2, 6.0)) and women unsupportive of male involvement in maternal care (AOR= 3.5, 95% CI; (1.2, 10)) were more likely associated with unaccompanying male partners. The major reasons reported by women for not being accompanied by their male partnerswere: a pretext that males being preoccupied with work, lack of awareness on the possible complication during pregnancy, misconception that the ANC is the concern of women’s only, males’ feeling shame to accompany them on visit and lack of responsibility. In general, the involvement of male partners in maternal ANC service was found to be low in the study area. Empowering women to have open discussion with their partners about maternal health issues and creating awareness in utilizing ANC could improve male involvement in ANC in the region.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AU  - Ayele Geleto
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