Background Adverse pregnancy outcomes remain a prevalent health problem in Ethiopia. Mothers’ use of preconception care service has the potential to avert many of the adverse outcomes. However, the use of this service and its determinants is not well investigated. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the utilization and determinants of preconception care among recently delivered mothers. Methods A community based cross-sectional design was conducted among 564 recently delivered mothers in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia. A multi stage cluster sampling technique was employed. Data was collected using a pre-tested, structured interviewer questionnaire and was entered in to Epi-Info™ Version 7 and analyzed using SPSS™ Version 20.0. Descriptive, bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the association. Results This study revealed that, 102(18.2%) of the mothers had utilized preconception care. Mothers’ knowledge on preconception care (AOR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.03, 4.73), prior experience of adverse birth outcomes (AOR: 5.10; 95% CI: 2.31, 11.24), history of chronic health problems (AOR: 5.69; 95% CI: 2.06, 15.72), husband’s support (AOR: 13.84; 95% CI: 6.02, 31.79), and challenges in accessing a health facility (AOR: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.48) were significantly associated with preconception care service utilization. Conclusion Mothers’ utilization of preconception care is low. Mothers knowledge on preconception care, experience of adverse birth outcome, having chronic health problems and husband support increases utilization of preconception care. However, mothers who experienced challenges in visiting a health facility showed decrease preconception care utilization. Therefore, increased efforts are need in terms of advocating for involvement of husband’s and awareness creation respecting preconception care services for all women.

Background. Preconception care (PCC) aims to improve pregnancy and health outcomes of mothers and their offspring. However, there is no adequate evidence of awareness on preconception care in Ethiopia. Therefore, the present study was performed to assess the level of awareness and associated factors of preconception care among currently delivered mothers. Method. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 561 mothers in Northern Ethiopia. Data were collected using a pretested, structured questionnaire. Odds ratio presented with 95% confidence interval, and a p value <0.25 at bivariable and p value <0.01 at multivariable logistic regression were used to declare statistical significance. Results. 39.0% of mothers were aware of preconception care. Awareness of preconception care was lower among mothers who did not have joint plan discussion with their partner (AOR = 0.15; 95% CI (0.08, 0.28)); did not have a history of adverse pregnancy outcome (AOR = 0.45; 95% CI (0.25, 0.83)), and did not receive husband support (AOR = 0.10; 95% CI (0.05, 0.19)). Conclusion. Women’s awareness of preconception care remains low. Joint plan discussion with the partner, previous history of adverse pregnancy outcome, and husband support were statistically significant predictors of awareness of preconception care. Thus, informing and sensitizing women and advocating husband support on preconception care are needed.

Background. Birth asphyxia, which accounts for 31.6% of all neonatal deaths, is one of the principal causes of neonatal mortality in Ethiopia. Adequate knowledge of newborn resuscitative procedures plays an important role in early diagnoses and suitable management. However, there are limited data on healthcare professionals’ knowledge about neonatal resuscitation. Thus, this study aimed to determine the knowledge of healthcare professionals about neonatal resuscitation and factors affecting it. Methods. Data from the Ethiopian 2016 national Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care survey of 3,804 health facilities that provided maternal and newborn health services were analyzed. We have included 3804 healthcare providers, who attended the largest number of deliveries in the last month prior to the survey, and assessed their knowledge of neonatal resuscitation. It was also determined whether certain factors were associated with healthcare providers’ knowledge through linear regression method. Result. The overall knowledge score of the healthcare providers about neonatal resuscitation ranged from 12 to 24 out of 37 items (with mean score of 18.4 (±5.47) and mean score percentage of 49%). The findings showed that providers trained on neonatal resuscitation (β=2.65, 95% CI: 0.65, 4.62; p <0.00), facilities that had guideline of neonatal resuscitation (β=2.50, 95% CI: 0.60, 3.52; p =0.01), and availability of essential equipment (β=0.95, 95% CI: 0.44, 1.45; p =0.02) were significantly associated with sufficient knowledge of neonatal resuscitation in Ethiopia. Conclusion. Overall knowledge of neonatal resuscitation was insufficient. Trained healthcare providers, having guideline on neonatal resuscitation, and availability of essential equipment were significantly associated with knowledge of neonatal resuscitation. Competency and simulation-based in-service training and refresher training complemented by supportive supervision and mentorship are helpful ways to put up providers capability to perform neonatal resuscitation.