A.N.M. Rezaul Karim^1,, S.M. Mostafa Kamal², Md. Rashedul Islam¹

Objectives: Since the maternal health of the tribal women is a world concern, it involves our attention more to them as they are underprivileged people all over the globe. This issue sounds true in the Bangladesh perspective as well. Antenatal care (ANC) is the first flight of stairs to reach the peak of success for safe-motherhood. It represents a series of evaluations over time, which is not implemented appropriately due to different types of limitation and problems. The study aimed to delve into ANC practices and the factors associated with this practices among tribal women dwelling in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: The descriptive statistic was used to analyze frequency, percentage. Associations were evaluated through Chi-square tests, and a binary logistic regression model was used to explore factors related to the use of ANC services. This paper is based on a quantitative study. Result: The study exposes that one-third (29.9%) of the pregnant women wanted ANC from a trained doctor of which 13.5% of women met adequate antenatal care attendance and 16.4% initiated attendance within three months of the pregnancy. Multivariable logistic regression analyses indicate that socio-economic status, place of residence, women's education, distance to health facilities, family planning were considered as the main determinant to seek ANC. The level of significance was set at 10% level of significance. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest that specific efforts are needed to advance socio-economic status of tribal people, increasing the educational level of women and their husbands, reducing the distance from a health center, and strengthening family planning program are needed.

antenatal care, adequacy for ANC, CHT, delay ANC, maternal mortality, tribal women