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Objective: In Nigeria, wide disparities exist between the different parts of the country, with the states in the North East zone having poor health resources. The objective of this study is to assess whether women’s biological, sociocultural, and economic characteristics are associated with utilization of ante natal care services as measured by number of antenatal care (ANC) visits in Yobe State. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey with records from 33,385 women between 15-49 years who had given birth between January 2003 and December 2008 in Yobe State. Bivariate Pearson’s Chi square test and two stages of Multivariate regression analysis were conducted. Results: Women with at least primary level education (adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.40; CI 1.24 – 4.67), belonging to professional employment category (AOR = 12.07; CI 0.19 – 75.74) and those who had access to skilled health workers (AOR = 5.13; CI 2.50 – 10.52) are more likely to make the required number of ANC visits compared to those who are illiterates, unemployed and had no access to skilled health workers. Conclusion and Global Health Implications: This study demonstrated that educational level, family wealth income, and availability of skilled health worker were consistently associated with the number of ANC visits even after controlling for covariates. These three covariates are in tandem with the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) 1 – eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; MDG 2 – universal basic education; MDG 3 – gender equality; and MDG 4 – maternal mortality. There is the need for inter-sectoral holistic intervention approach.

Background: With the global clamoring for the prevention of pregnancy related maternal deaths and to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) by 2015, this work aimed to establish the magnitude and factors associated with maternal mortality in the main referral maternity hospital in Kuando Kubango province of Angola. Methods: The study design was a retrospective analysis of all maternal deaths and deliveries that were recorded from 2010 to 2014. The information collected included data on pregnancy, labour and post-natal period retrieved from case notes and the delivery register. Results: During the period under study, a total of 7,158 live births were conducted out of which 131 resulted in maternal death with an overall maternal mortality ratio of 1,830 per 100,000 live births. The direct obstetric causes accounted for 51% of all deaths. The major causes were haemorrhage (15%), puerperal sepsis (13%), eclampsia (11%) and ruptured uterus (10%). The factors of mutual instability of statistical significance associated with maternal death are: place of domicile (P=0.0001) and distance to the hospital (P=0.0001). Conclusion and Global Health Implication: The study demonstrated that the MMR in maternity hospital is very high and is higher than the WHO 2014 estimates and the province is yet to achieve the desired MDG 5 target by the end of 2015. There is the need for better documentation and periodic reviews all cases of maternal deaths. Key words: Maternal Mortality, Causes, Determinants, Poor Documentation, Angola Copyright © 2016 Umar and Kabamba. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Objective: In Nigeria, wide disparities exist between the different parts of the country, with the states in the North East zone having poor health resources. The objective of this study is to assess whether women’s biological, sociocultural, and economic characteristics are associated with utilization of ante natal care services as measured by number of antenatal care (ANC) visits in Yobe State. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey with records from 33,385 women between 15-49 years who had given birth between January 2003 and December 2008 in Yobe State. Bivariate Pearson’s Chi square test and two stages of Multivariate regression analysis were conducted. Results: Women with at least primary level education (adjusted OR (AOR) = 2.40; CI 1.24 – 4.67), belonging to professional employment category (AOR = 12.07; CI 0.19 – 75.74) and those who had access to skilled health workers (AOR = 5.13; CI 2.50 – 10.52) are more likely to make the required number of ANC visits compared to those who are illiterates, unemployed and had no access to skilled health workers. Conclusion and Global Health Implications: This study demonstrated that educational level, family wealth income, and availability of skilled health worker were consistently associated with the number of ANC visits even after controlling for covariates. These three covariates are in tandem with the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) 1 – eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; MDG 2 – universal basic education; MDG 3 – gender equality; and MDG 4 – maternal mortality. There is the need for inter-sectoral holistic intervention approach. Key words: Antenatal Care Services • ANC Utilization • MDGs • Yobe State • Nigeria • Skilled Health Workers Copyright © 2015 Umar and Bawa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.