Utilization of facility based health care and Associated Factors during COVID 19 Pandemic in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia

Abstract Background The utilization of facility-based health care was among the means to tackle the transmission of the COVID 19 and protection of better health. However, reluctance to the utilization of facility-based health care has been reported to be a major problem everywhere in the globe including Ethiopia. Purpose To assess the utilization of facility-based health care and associated factors among adults in Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. Participant and Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a quantitative approach among the randomly selected 2751 adults aged 18 years and above. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. The collected data were entered into Epi info version 7.2.0.1 and analyzed using STATA 15. Descriptive statistics was computed. Bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were done to determine the association between the study variables. Odds Ratio with its 95%CI was calculated and P-Value < 0.05 was used as a cut-off point to declare the significance in the final model. Results Overall, 25.5% (95%CI: 24.6%, 26.4%) of respondents utilized facility based essential health care. Agro-pastoralist (AOR, 0.50; 95%CI: 0.48, 0. 63), urban residence (AOR, 0.66; 95%CI: 0.48, 0.92), Orthodox religion followers (AOR, 0.58; 95%CI: 0.41, 0.81), marital statuses (AOR, 0.45; 95%CI: 0.20, 0.99), poor level of knowledge (AOR, 0.70; 95%CI: 0.52, 0.91], unfavorable attitude (AOR, 0.64; 95%CI: 0.50, 0.84] were less likely to utilize facility based Health Care. Conclusions Only 646 (25.5%) of respondents visited health facilities after the commencement of the COVID 19 pandemic. Activities to increase the utilization of essential health care services are crucial through appropriate information outlets.