Knowledge about Obstetric Danger Signs and Associated Factors among Pregnant Mothers in Jigjiga City, Somali Regional State, Eastern, Ethiopia:A Community based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Awareness of the danger signs of pregnancy is thus the first step to seeking appropriate and timely referral to emergency obstetric care and this reduces the first and second delays.Even though there is significant improvement in utilization of antenatal care, there is alimited information about the level of knowledge on danger signs of obstetric complications among pregnant mothers. Objectives: To assess knowledge about danger signs of obstetric complications and associated factors among pregnant mothers in Jigjiga Town, Ethiopian Somali Regional State, Ethiopia, February 1-18 / 2018. Methods and materials: A community based cross sectional study was employed from February 1- 18.The study was conducted in 7 randomly selected kebeles from 20 kebeles in jigjiga city among 442 randomly selected pregnant women using interview administered questionnaire. Data entry and analysis was performed by epidata version 3.1 and SPSS version 20 software respectively. Result: Knowledge of a mother about obstetric danger signs indicates, 162 (37.9 %) (95% CI 33%, 42%) respondents were knowledgeable about obstetric danger signs in all categories (pregnancy, Labor/delivery and postpartum). The odds of knowledge on obstetrics danger signs increased for mothers have formal education (AOR=9.0, 95CI%=4.5-17.8), husbands who have formal education (AOR=2.0, 95 CI%=1.1-3.5), those who have mass media access (AOR=7.2, 95 CI %=4.0-12.9) and mother who had ANC (AOR=4.8, 95CI%=2.8-8.3) with their respective counter parts. Conclusion and recommendation: this study showed low level knowledge of obstetric danger signs during pregnancy, child birth and postpartum period among women in Jigjiga City. There is a need to promote antenatal care and provide information via mass media about danger signs of obstetrics complications