University Publications

Background: Birth planning and emergency preparedness are useful, cost-effective, and accessible public health interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality. Awareness, attitudes, and practices regarding birth planning and emergency preparedness are essential for prompt emergency response to avoid delays, including appropriate and timely referral to obstetric care. Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding birth planning and emergency preparedness among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at Wad Madeni Maternity Hospital in Gezira State, Sudan. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was used from April to July 2022. A total of 419 pregnant women were randomly sampled. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire using a rating scale to assess perceptions, attitudes, and practices, and analyzed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical methods using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 with significance levels. The P-value for correlation was set at <; 0.05. Results: Most pregnant women in this study were rural residents with adequate education, two-thirds of whom received regular prenatal care from various sources (64.2%, 87.1%, 62.5%, 58.9%, respectively), and their overall awareness and practice levels were low (74.9% and 79.0%). Almost all (97.1%) respondents had positive attitudes. Significant associations were found between women's awareness, fertility, education level, and attitudes, with p-values of (.05, and .003), respectively. Conclusions: Most pregnant women had positive attitudes, regularly participated in prenatal care, and were well-informed about birth planning and emergency preparedness, but their awareness and practice levels were low. Keywords: awareness, attitude, birth planning, emergency, pregnancy, practice.