MASS MEDIA EXPOSURE AND ANTENATAL CARE VISITS IN NIGERIA

The Nigeria high maternal mortality ratio of 917 per 100,000 live births despite international and domestic health actions will require identifying the major contributors to maternal mortality and investigating their determinants. Low utilization of antenatal care is considered a major contributor to maternal mortality. In this study, we investigate the role of mass media exposure on the decision of women to have antenatal care visits, frequency of care, and timeliness of care using the 2018 Nigeria demographic health survey data. We discovered that women that are exposed to mass media are more likely to have at least one antenatal care visit. They are also likely to meet the recommended four and eight antenatal care visits recommended by the World Health Organization. We identified other predictors of having at least one, four and eight antenatal care visits to include women health autonomy, education, parity, wealth index and living in rural area. These factors (except for mass media exposure) were identified as predictors of having one visit in the first trimester. The design of any effective antenatal care programme will require adequate publicity and specific targeting of poor women urban women with parity but low education