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Introduction: The majority of maternal and newborn deaths take place during the first few hours and days after birth and thus postnatal contacts should begin as early as possible, especially within the first 24 h, then again within two to three days after delivery. Globally, early postnatal discharge has increased over the past 50 years and currently too. Even if Ethiopia has very low PNC coverage, there is no evidence on who is discharged early. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the magnitude and the predictors for early postnatal discharge in Ethiopia., Methods: This study was based on the secondary data analysis using the Ethiopian Demographic and Health survey (EDHS) 2016 data set. The weighted sample of 2,225 delivered mothers were included for the final analysis. The model was best fitted as assessed by Hosmer-Lemeshow test (p value = 0.1988). The variables with P-value ≤ 0.2 in the bi- variable binary logistic regression analysis were included in to the multi-variable binary logistic regression analysis. The Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was computed to assess the strength of association between the outcome and independent variables. The variables with a P-value of less than 0.05 in the multi-variable binary logistic regression analysis were declared as statistically significant predictors of the outcome variable., Result: The overall magnitude of early discharge was 70.41% (CI: 68.48, 72.30). Residence (rural; AOR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.80), educational status (No education; AOR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.19, 2.94), religion (Muslim; AOR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.55, 0.87, Others; AOR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.57), wealth index (Poor; AOR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.59, 0.99), marital status (Not married; AOR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.67), ANC visits (No ANC visits; AOR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.46,0.86), parity (3rd parity; AOR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.11), and size of the child (larger size; AOR: 0.63;95% CI: 0.50,0.79, (smaller size; AOR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.56,0.92) were independent determinants of early discharge., Conclusion: A substantial proportions of mothers in Ethiopia had been discharged early (before 24 h). Residence, education, wealth index, religion, marital status, ANC follow up, parity and size of the child were predictors of early discharge. Adequate hospital stay should be promoted. Since the early discharge in Ethiopia is very high, home based postnatal visit should be strengthened focusing the identified predictors., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Early detection, prevention, and management of diseases associated with pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions depend on the beginning of antenatal care contact in the first trimester. Across Africa, regional and national differences are observed in the proportion of first-trimester ANC contact and the factors contributing to it. To create a suitable intervention plan, it is crucial to overcome these differences through single standard and uniform guidelines. This can be achieved through meta-analysis and systematic reviews. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of first trimester ANC contact and the factors contributing to it in Africa., Methods: Observational studies conducted in Africa were retrieved from PubMed, Google Scholar, EMASE, CINHAL, Cochrane Library, Hinari databases and Mednar using combinations of search terms with Boolean operators. The JBI 2020 Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies. To assess publication bias, a funnel plot and Egger's test were used to and I-squared was used to check the heterogeneity of the included studies. Data were extracted using Microsoft Excel and exported to Stata 16 software for analysis., Results: A total of 86 articles with 224,317 study participants from 19 African countries were included. The overall pooled prevalence of first-trimester ANC contact was 37.15% (95% CI: 33.3-41.0; I 2  = 99.8%). The following factors were found to be significantly associated with first-trimester ANC contact: urban residence (OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.5-3.1; I 2  = 98.5%); women under the age of 25 (OR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.2-1.9; I 2  = 94.1%);, educational status (OR = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.4-2.2; I 2  = 96.1%), primiparity (OR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.2-2.4: I 2  = 97.4%), having planned pregnancies (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.5-2.7; I 2  = 95.5%) and employed women (OR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.7-2.1; I 2  = 94.4%)., Conclusion: Because so few women in Africa initiate first-trimester ANC contact, it is clear that increasing maternal healthcare service uptake is still a challenge and will require significant effort to scale up the services. When working to improve maternal health in Africa, each nation's government and nongovernmental organizations should prioritize raising women's educational levels and providing pertinent information to rural women, focusing on reducing unintended pregnancies, women who live far from health facilities, women with low socioeconomic statuses, multiparous women and older women., Trial Registration: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic reviews (ID: CRD42023401711)., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)