Postnatal care utilization and associated factors among women who gave birth within the last 12 months in northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: postnatal care after birth is a crucial component in saving the lives of mothers and new-borns. A paucity of evidence indicated that women's unwillingness to receive care after birth remains a challenge in resource-limited settings in general and in Ethiopia in particular. This study aimed to assess the level of postnatal care utilization and factors affecting it in northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: a community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from October to November 2020. A total of 811 women who had given birth within the last year were involved in the study. Both random and fixed effects were reported using an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval and a p-value of <0.05.

Results: the study revealed that postnatal care utilization was 19.85% (95% CI: 20.8-29.4) in northwest Ethiopia. Maternal education of secondary and above (AOR =2.65; 95% CI: 1.43, 4.94); facility delivery (AOR = 3.99; 95% CI: 2.44, 6.55); membership in women associations in the community (AOR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.4); four or more ANC contacts (AOR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.22); having health education at health post level (AOR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.58), and birth order (AOR = 2.64; 95% CI: 1.21, 5.78) were significantly associated with postnatal care utilization.

Conclusion: postnatal care utilization is low in rural northwest Ethiopia compared to findings from most resource-limited settings. The existing health system should consider community-based intervention strategies focusing on maternal health education, healthcare accessibility, and promoting women's participation in the community to be more effective in improving postnatal care utilization.