[[alternative]]Pregnant Women’s Awareness of Antepartum Danger Signs and Birth Preparedness in Rural Gambia

[[abstract]]Awareness of ante-partum danger signs and birth preparedness is an important step in efforts aimed at reducing the high levels of reproductive morbidity and mortality. The objectives of this study were to explore pregnant women’s awareness of antepartum danger signs and birth preparedness as well as to identify associated factors in rural Gambia. A clinic based cross-sectional study design was conducted at 7 public-health centers in North Bank East involving a convenient sample of 145 pregnant women attending antenatal care services. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 18.0.Our study showed that (61%) of the pregnant women are aware of antepartum danger signs. In stepwise multiple linear analyses, awareness of antepartum danger signs was significantly predicted by age, marital status and advised on danger signs. However birth preparedness was low (14%) and multivariate logistic analysis showed that preparation was higher among literate women (OR = 7.04), employed women (OR=6.17), women with four or more antenatal visits (OR = 4.49) and women with high awareness (OR = 1.24).In conclusion awareness of antepartum danger signs is high despite deficiencies in some life threatening ones. However level of birth preparedness is low in the rural population studied. A need exits to provide antenatal care that includes sufficient information about pregnancy danger signs and birth preparedness to meet the need for safe motherhood, as pointed out by the Millennium Development Goals