Utilization of Maternity Waiting Homes to Increase Uptake of Immediate Postpartum Family Planning in Primary Health Care Facilities in Ethiopia

Abstract Background: Maternity waiting home (MWH) within primary health care facilities is an ideal platform to reach women with family planning education and counseling. MWH users interact with health care providers on a regular basis throughout their waiting period and can prepare to initiate family planning method of their choice immediately after childbirth. However, to date, there has been no clear evidence about the use of MWHs to increase uptakes of immediate postpartum family planning (IPPFP). Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the contribution of MWHs to increase IPPFP uptake among women who deliver in health facilities in Ethiopia.Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted to collect quantitative data from women who gave birth in the past 12 months. Multi-stage random sampling procedures were employed to select 884 women. Descriptive summary and logistic regression with 95% confidence intervals were conducted in Stata 14 to analyze the data.Result: The prevalence of IPPFP use among women who used MWHs was 44% and 36% among those who did not use MWHs. The use of MWHs significantly contributed to increase immediate postpartum family planning uptake (OR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.08- 2.04, p=.016).Conclusions: This study showed that, MWHs significantly contributed for improving IPPFP uptake by an average of 8%-point difference for beneficiaries within 48 hours after delivery. Developing a comprehensive package of service for maternal care has the potential to improve family planning uptake of postpartum women. Women’s who have used maternity waiting home more likely utilized postpartum family planning than women who have not used maternity waiting home. Providing a comprehensive package of services, including family planning information and counseling, in maternity waiting homes can have a positive impact on improving postpartum family planning use.