Assessment of the risk status of pregnant women presenting for antenatal care in a rural health facility in Ebonyi State, South Eastern Nigeria

Background: Nigeria has one of the worst maternal and child health indices globally. Aims: The objective of this study was to assess the risk status of pregnant women presenting for antenatal care in a rural health facility in Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria. Subjects and Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of pregnant women selected by systematic random sampling. The study instrument was a pre-tested semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Result: The age range of the women in the study was 16-43 years. The mean age was 25.3 +/- 1.3 years. According to the scoring system used, about one-fourth of the women (26%) had a high risk pregnancy while about a tenth (9.1%) had very high risk pregnancy. The vast majority of the women with at-risk pregnancies registered for antenatal care late: 58.9 % registered for antenatal care in the second trimester and 37.0 % registered for antenatal care in the third trimester of pregnancy. Of the women with an at-risk pregnancy, 79.5% had their last delivery at home and 67.1 % of them preferred to deliver at home in their current pregnancies. Conclusion: This study revealed that a substantial proportion of rural women with at-risk pregnancies go through their pregnancy period without significant modern antenatal care. The local government health department should intensify efforts through health enlightenment campaigns to educate rural pregnant women of the benefits of utilizing modern antenatal care services.