Aim: This study aims to evaluate the challenges faced by pregnant women in accessing antenatal services at Comprehensive Health Centre Oka Akoko, Ondo State.
Materials and methods: Descriptive survey design method was adopted to assess the challenges encountered by pregnant women in accessing antenatal services in the selected health center in Akure. Structured questionnaire was used for the collection of demographic data.
Results: The results showed that 60% (n=60) of the participants have access to antenatal services and 40% (n=40) did not have access to antenatal services in Comprehensive Health Center Oka-Akoko, Nigeria. Of these 60 participants, 63.3% of them were Christians, 56.7% were Muslims while 50% belonged to other religion. It was also observed that the highest access (74%) to antenatal services was noted among the Yoruba ethnic group while the least access was recorded among the Hausa ethnic group (30%). The results further showed that pregnant women who are educated especially those with tertiary qualification, all (100%) have access to antenatal services while the uneducated pregnant women had the least access to antenatal services. In addition, 80% of the civil servants had access to the antenatal services while students especially those within the age group 15-20 years had the least access (40%) to the antenatal services. Generally, poor access to antenatal care was common among the poor and less educated respondents in the study area.
Conclusions: The study identified poverty and poor education as major factors that led to poor access to antenatal clinic in Oka Akoko Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria. To combat this problem, government at all levels must make antenatal care free and further increase the public awareness on the importance of antenatal clinic to the pregnant women.
Key words: Maternal care, pregnant women, antenatal
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