Determinants of maternity waiting home utilization in Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the magnitude of maternity waiting home utilization and identify its associated factors in Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 748 mothers who gave birth within the last year in the selected woredas (districts) of Sidama Zone. Data were collected from April 1-30, 2019 by using pre-tested and structured questionnaires. Data were coded and entered into EpiData version 3.5.1 and exported to Stata Version 13 software for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with maternity waiting home utilization adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: The mean (SD) of the age of the mothers was 31.26(6.42). Utilization of maternity waiting home in Sidama Zone was 67.25% (95% CI: 63.79-70.53).Maternity waiting home utilization was positively associated with protestant religion (AOR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.00-2.82) and having a spouse who can read and write (AOR = 2.0; 95%CI: 1.11-3.66) while it was negatively associated with maternal age of 31-40 (AOR = 0.4; 95%CI: 0.28-0.64) relative to the age group of 20-30, daily laborer occupation of mothers (AOR = 0.2; 95%CI: 0.06-0.76), monthly income under the poverty level (825-1320EBR) (AOR = 0.6; 95%CI: 0.36-0.92) relative with extreme poverty line (<825 EBR), lack of knowledge about maternity waiting home (AOR = 0.009; 95%CI: 0.002-0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Women who had knowledge about maternity waiting home, had a husband who can read and write and protestant religion followers have higher probabilities of maternity waiting home utilization, whereas women (31-40 years old), daily laborers and whose family income is below the poverty level have lower probabilities of maternity waiting home utilization. Therefore, Health education about maternity waiting home utilization, spouse education, and women's economic empowerment is crucial to enhance maternity waiting home utilization.