Introduction: Focus Antenatal Care (FANC) and health facility skilled delivery are very
vital issues to consider when dealing with matters of maternal mortality. Therefore
perceived quality of these services and their relatedness cannot be overlooked when
assessing patronage levels of these services. Records of non-patronage among some
individuals still remain high in some communities. It is in this direction that this study
sought to identify the relationship between receiving FANC and preference of place of
delivery among pregnant women in the Nankese Sub-Municipality of the Suhum
municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Methods:The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods where
interview guide and a semi-structured questionnaire were tools for data collection. Data
were obtained from 340 respondents and five (5) key informantsof which four were
health facility workers and one community member to ascertain institutional based
factors that could contribute to FANC attendance and facility based delivery. Data were
analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to
analyze quantitative data whereas thematic content analysis was employed for the
qualitative findings.
Results: The study found that women in the municipality had positive perceptions about
FANC as the majority (99.7%) indicated its importance in areas of maternal and child
health. There was a significantrelationship between FANC attendance and place of
delivery among mothers (p<0.0001). Further, FANC attendance influenced the choice of
place of delivery due to the quality of care they received at the facility in terms of
medication, education and birth preparedness.
Conclusions: Themajority of the mothers in this study had positive attitudes towards
FANC. Employment status, distance to health facility and coverage under NHIS related
with the attendance to FANC, and FANC attendance positively related with the place of
delivery. These findings highlight the need for education on FANC services and the
allocation of resources to enhance the delivery of effective FANC services to mothers.