International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | August 2019 | Vol 6 | Issue 8 Page 3228 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Okpala PU et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2019 Aug;6(8):3228-3233 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Utilization of maternal and child health services in Enugu, South East, Nigeria Pat U. Okpala 1 , Chinwendu L. Okoye 1 , Florence O. Adeyemo 2 , Peace N. Iheanacho 1 , Anthonia C. Emesonwu 3 , Eunice O. Osuala 4 , Ikenna G. Okpala 5 * INTRODUCTION The arrival of a baby makes a big difference to family life, bringing both new joy and new challenges. Pregnancy and the period surrounding it is a dangerous time for too many of the 9.2 million women and girls who become pregnant in Nigeria each year. Over the last decade, great efforts have been made to improve maternal and child health in Nigeria with some improvements. Maternal complications and the poor perinatal outcome are highly associated with poor usage of skilled maternal health care services. 1 Pregnancy-related complications ABSTRACT Background: Nigeria continues to have one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world at 814 deaths per 100,000 live births despite several efforts. Various factors can influence appropriate utilization of services during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. This study examined the perceived factors that influence the utilization of maternal and child-health services among mothers in Enugu, South-East Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study population of 323 pregnant women was determined using the Power Analysis formula. The instrument used for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire. Demographic information of the women was also obtained for the study. The analysis was done with the software statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 16.0. Study period was from April 2016 to August 2016. Results: There was high antenatal clinic attendance (93.1%) and utilization of postnatal care services (93.1%). Also, the major factors that influenced the utilization of maternal and child health services were professionally defined needs, accessibility of health care services and economic status. Conclusions: There was high utilization of maternal and child health care services which was influenced by some factors. There is a need for nurses and other health workers to be actively engaged in educating mothers during antenatal visits. Sustainable financial subsidies and community-based initiatives should be developed to encourage early antenatal clinic visits and to provide the necessary information on the importance of facility-based antenatal and postnatal care. Keywords: Pregnancy, Utilization, Healthcare services, Nigeria, Maternal, Child Department of Nursing Sciences, 1 University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Enugu, 4 Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Awka, Nigeria Department of Nursing, 2 College of Health Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo, 3 Imo State University, Orlu Campus, Owerri, Nigeria 5 Department of Family Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria Received: 18 June 2019 Revised: 03 July 2019 Accepted: 04 July 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Ikenna G. Okpala, E-mail: ikenna.okpala2@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20193124