ASSESSMENT OF PREGNANT, S OBSTACLES TOWARD ANTENATAL CARE IN MOSUL

Figure (1) histogram showing frequency distribution of the study population

DISCUSSION

Rgarding the education level of pregnant women, It is found that about 42% of them are graduated from primary schools, while only 17% of them are university graduates. In contrast to a study done in Indonesia reported that mothers with high level of education had the highest utilization rate for antenatal care use. This finding of a study by (Erlindawati et. al, 2008) indicating that education has an impact on awareness among the population and their use of health services. As far as pregnant's job, 91% were housewife which  is consistent  with Shahjahan et. al., 2012 in which 95.6% of pregnant women were found housewives. The majority of the sample is in the 24-30  years age group. This proportion reflects Mosul population habits that make the woman ready for marriage after completing the age of twenty. The majority of the interviewed woman found having low economic income (77%). High income mothers had the highest percentage use of antenatal care services compared to those with a lower family-income (Rahman et.al, 2010).

As for the  number of visits per month, the study showed that 83% of pregnants visit maternity units per month. This agrees with the finding of  another study done in Vietnam in which 96.6% of pregnant women visit antenatal care unit per month (Sepehri et.al., 2008). As far as obstacles against antenatal care visits, study results revealed that the top obstacles are living far from the center, social problem inside family and careless attitude of physician and nurses. Similar results have been found in a study conducted in Nigeria  which found that 48.8% of the pregnant women did not attend antenatal care  services because the providers were far from them (Osungbade et.al., 2011).

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Relative underutilization of antenatal care services is found in Mosul. The most common obstacles are long distance from the center, family social problem and careless attitude of physician and nurses. Continuous educational programs are necessary to improve nurses attitude toward antenatal care to pregnant women. Holding educational symposiums to overcome the social problems facing the pregnant woman is an urgent necessity.

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