Factors Associated with timely first Antenatal Care Booking among Pregnant Women attending Antenatal Clinics in Asella Town Public Health Institutions, Arsi Zone Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, 2017

Background: The problem of mortality is the issue of both developed and developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa including Ethiopia. This is known due to the poor quality of maternal health care services. Almost all causes of maternal death are preventable, so antenatal care is the entry point to tackle those causes of maternal death as well as complications during pregnancy. However, the timely starting of the first Antenatal care visit is not well practiced in country Ethiopia according to evidence from different literature. Due to this reason many mothers died because of pregnancy complications. Objective: To assess timely booking of first antenatal care visit and affecting factors among pregnant women attending Antenatal care clinics in Asella town public health institutions, Ethiopia, 2017 Methods: The institution based Cross-Sectional study design was conducted from March – April, 2017, on 334 pregnant women. Results: The study revealed that only 37% of the study respondents were started first Antenatal care visit timely. Husband involvement (AOR=8.17, 3.15-2), pregnancy related complications (AOR= 2.8, 1.2-6.6), Birth experience (AOR= 2.5, 1.4-4.5), Knowledge on time begin ANC (AOR=5.6, 3.3-9), Payment of service (AOR=0.5, 0.3-0.9), waiting time (AOR=0.6, 0.3-0.9) have association. Conclusion: Early initiation of first antenatal care booking in the area was considered to be low.