The Effect of Quantity and Quality of Antenatal Care Utilization on Birth Weight: Empirical Evidence in The Gambia

Low birth weight (LBW), defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a child's first weight less than 2.5 kilograms, accounts for one-third of all newborn deaths. Despite its significance, data on LBW in The Gambia is limited. Previous research indicates that antenatal care (ANC) can reduce the incidence of LBW. Therefore, this thesis assesses the effect of the quantity and quality of antenatal care utilization on Birth Weight in the Gambia. Using the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from the Gambia, the analysis included 4,182 women aged 15 to 49 years. The findings revealed an overall LBW prevalence of 8.23%. In multivariate logistic regression, high-quality ANC had a stronger effect on reducing LBW than low quality ANC. Predictors of LBW included child sex, birth order, maternal age, and four or more ANC visits. Further analysis using multivariate linear regression demonstrated a positive association between high-quality ANC and increased childbirth weight, identifying several significant predictors of birth weight outcomes, encompassing child sex, birth order, maternal age, distance to health facility, ANC visits, wealth status, maternal employment, and secondary education. Given the global health implications of LBW, this research concluded with recommendations of enhancing maternal health literacy, promoting ANC service utilization with quality-of-care availability in national hospitals in the Gambia, and improving women's socioeconomic status for overall health improvement.