%0 Journal Article
%T Barriers and Enablers That Influence  Utilization of Ultrasound Screening Services among Antenatal Women in Kajiado and  Kisii Counties Kenya
%A Micah Matiang¡¯i
%A Koen Joosse
%A Priscillah Ngunju
%A Colleta Kiilu
%A Romy Harkx
%A Marianne Hangelbroek
%A Jarim Omogi
%J Open Journal of Clinical Diagnostics
%P 1-17
%@ 2162-5824
%D 2021
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojcd.2021.111001
%X <b> Background: </b>The World Health Organization recommends to have all pregnant women to	
undergo an obstetric ultrasound scan before 24 weeks gestation. However, this	
has been a challenge as a result of limited access to appropriate Point of Care	
Ultrasound Screening (POCUS) services in lower levels of developing countries¡¯	
Health Systems, cost of care, skills gap among care providers and unclear	
regulatory policy frameworks. Obstetric Ultrasound scan helps to confirm	
viability of a pregnancy, gestational age, multiple pregnancies and it also	
helps rule out fetal abnormalities early enough. <b>Methods: </b>One year after intervention,	
a cross-sectional study was carried in the two pilot counties of <i>Kisii </i>(rural) and <i>Kajiado </i>(peri-urban). This followed after selected midwives in the two	
counties were trained on basic obstetric ultrasound screening for ANC women. A	
total of 366 women who were either in their last phases of pregnancy or had	
delivered within three months before the survey were interviewed. Cumulatively,	
the 36 midwives had screened 1,250 mothers out of whom 18 high risk pregnancies	
were identified. Open	
Data Kit (ODK) was used to collect quantitative data and analysed using STATA	
version 15. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data test	
associations between variables. Bivariate and logistic regression was used to identify	
predictive variables, and ORs with 95% confidence intervals used to measure the	
strength of the associations. <b>Findings: </b>Slightly more than a third (36%)	
of the women had recently delivered. In total, Kisii (rural county) had a	
representation of 59% of the respondents. Half of the respondents were aged	
between 25 - 34	
years, 55% of the women interviewed were housewives while 48% had secondary	
level of education. Only 21% of the women had undergone routine ultrasound	
screening before 24 weeks of gestation with the average distance travelled by	
majority (45%) of the respondents to access the POCUS service being 3 - 5 km. The need to confirm a pregnancy¡¯s gestation	
was the major (68.1%) motivator for seeking the service in the two pilot	
counties. Employment status, household income, education level, pregnancy	
gestation and distance to the facility had a statistical significance (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05) with ultrasound utilization. Highest education	
level, pregnancy gestation and distance to the nearest ultrasound screening	
facility were found to significantly predict the likelihood of utilizing the	
ultrasound services (<i>P </i>&lt; 0.05).	
The initial training
%K Point of Care Ultrasonography Screening (POCUS)
%K Midwives
%K Antenatal
%K Pri-mary Health Care Settings
%K Business Model
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=107064