Women’s Sociodemographic Characters and Antenatal Care Services in Rwanda: A Secondary Analysis of Rwanda Demographic Health Survey 2019–2020

Background and Objectives: Rwanda, a country in Sub-Saharan Africa, is among the most underprivileged nations. Women in Rwanda face significant challenges in achieving good health and well-being. This study aims to explore the impact of various sociodemographic factors on the utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services in Rwanda. Methodology: This study is based on secondary research using data extracted from the Rwanda Demographic Health Survey conducted in 2019–2020. 14,634 women were interviewed, and their data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0. The statistical significance level was set at 5% and a confidence interval of 95% was used in the analysis. Results: The average age of the survey respondents was 29. Over 87% of them visited ANC before their 5th month of pregnancy, and only a very small percentage (0.04%) had more than six visits. The logistic regression analysis results showed that women aged over 45 years were twice as likely to visit the clinic as women aged 15–30 years (odds ratio (OR): 2.022, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.241–3.293, P = 0.005). Women who completed primary education were 4.2 times more likely to use ANC clinics than uneducated women (OR: 4.190, 95%CI: 1.230–2.653, P = 0.003). Pregnant women who read the newspaper at least once a week were 1.4 times more likely to visit the clinic than those who did not read the newspaper at all (OR: 1.148, 95%CI: 1.097–2.028, P = 0.014). Conclusions: The utilization of antenatal care ANC services is significantly influenced by sociodemographic factors. Therefore, these elements should be considered when developing strategies to improve antenatal services in Rwanda.