Why do pregnant women present late for their first antenatal care consultation in Cameroon?

Table 2 Reasons of late first ANC in the 129 participants who started booking ANC after 12 weeks

Reason	Frequency	Percentage
Financial difficulties	45	34.5
Busy schedule	25	19.4
Uncertainty of pregnancy	9	7.0
Fatigue	3	2.3
Unawareness of gestational age	2	1.6
Laziness	8	6.2
Thought this was the right time to come	12	9.3
Long distance to the hospital	45	34.5
In apparent good health	18	14.0

The mean gestational age at booking was 14 weeks ±1.2 week. Amongst the 293 first ANC attendants, 129 participants (44.0%) started their booking ANC late (after 12 weeks of gestation). As shown on Fig. 2, for those who started their first ANC late, 68.2% (30.0% of total) started between 20th -28th of gestation. The commonest reasons of late first ANC advanced by these 129 participants were financial difficulties (34.5%, 45), long distances to the hospital (34.5%, 45) and busy schedule (19.4%, 25). Other reasons advanced by these women for late initiation of ANC are as shown on Table 2

ISSN: 2054-958X