Individual- and community-level determinants of the number of antenatal care visits in emerging regions of Ethiopia: a negative binomial model

Objective: - This study was carried out to identify individual and community-level factors influencing the number of antenatal care (ANC) visits in Ethiopia's emerging regions (Afar, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Gambella). Design: - Cross-sectional study design. Setting: - Ethiopia's emerging regions(Afar, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Gambella) from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. Participants: - The analysis included a total weighted sample of 441 women from the EDHS dataset who had given birth within the five years before the survey. Primary outcomes - The number of ANC visits. Results: : In this study, 20.5% (95% CI: 16.7%, 24.5%) of pregnant women received four minimum recommended visits. Women with secondary (IRR 1.3; 95%CI: 1.1, 1.5), and higher (IRR 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5) education, terminated pregnancy (IRR 2.3; 95% CI: 1.9, 3.1), wanted pregnancy (IRR 1.4; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.3), high community poverty (IRR 0.5; 95%CI: 0.4, 0.7), community media exposure (IRR 1.3; 95% CI: 1.3, 1.8), and high community illiteracy (IRR 0.6; 95% CI: 0.5, 0.9) were significant predictors of many antenatal care visits in Ethiopia’s emerging regions. Conclusions: : According to the findings of our study, more than three-quarters of pregnant mothers in Ethiopia's emerging region did not receive the adequate number of visits recommended by the WHO. Pregnancy desirability, history of a terminated pregnancy, maternal education; community poverty level, community literacy, and community media exposure were significantly associated with the number of ANC visits. Therefore, Promoting interpectoral actions would be vital in improving maternal health.