Completion of the maternal continuum of care and its association with antenatal care attendance during previous pregnancy among women in rural areas of the Gurage Zone, Southwest Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The maternal continuum of care is a cost-effective intervention to prevent pregnancy and childbirth-related maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of completion of the maternal continuum of care and its association with antenatal care (ANC) attendance during previous pregnancy among women in rural kebeles of Gurage Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. DESIGN: A community-based cross-sectional study. SETTING: The study took place in 12 rural kebeles of the Gurage Zone from 1 April 2022 to 12 May 2022. PARTICIPANTS: Randomly selected 497 women who gave birth in the previous 12 months in rural kebeles of the Gurage Zone. OUTCOME: The outcome of this study was the prevalence of completion of the maternal continuum of care. RESULTS: Overall, the prevalence of completion of the maternal continuum of care was 15.5% (95% CI: 12.55% to 18.9%). After adjusting for potential confounders, having ANC attendance during a previous pregnancy (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.01; 95% CI: 1.07 to 3.76) was positively associated with the completion of the maternal continuum of care. In addition, having access to ambulance service as a means of transportation (AOR: 6.01; 95% CI: 3.16 to 11.39) and exposure to mass media (AOR: 2.43; 95% CI: 1.27 to 4.68) were positively associated with completion of the maternal continuum of care. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of completion of the maternity continuum of care was unacceptably low in this study. This result indicates that the women did not receive the maximum possible health benefit from existing maternal healthcare services. The completion of the maternal continuum of care was affected by ANC attendance in a previous pregnancy. Therefore, interventions that can strengthen ANC are crucial in the maternal continuum of the care pathway.