Discussion
This study was a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a cluster randomized trial conducted in rural Ethiopia. The participants were pregnant women in their second trimester. This analysis considered data collected on women’s experiences related to MWHs with the most recent pregnancy and birth before their current pregnancy. The findings showed that 33.75% had good knowledge of MWHs, 28.75% had favorable attitudes towards MWHs, 26.25% had good male partner involvement, and 23.75% used MWHs.In this study, we found that around one-third (33.75%) of women had good knowledge about MWHs. Possible reasons that only one-third had good knowledge may be that most women who participated in this study had no formal education, low access to ANC, and poor access to health information due to long distances from health facilities. This finding is in line with studies from southern and central Ethiopia, which revealed that only 7% and 47.7% of women, respectively, had awareness about MWHsThe study revealed that the MWH utilization was 23.75%. The reasons for this low utilization of MWHs may be the low levels of good knowledge and favorable attitudes toward MWHs among the participants. Poor involvement of male partners in maternal health might also have affected women’s access to MWHs, as males are the main decision makers. In support of this, other studies from Ethiopia found that the MWH uptake was lowThe current study showed that educational status was inversely associated with knowledge and not associated with attitudes towards MWHs. This might imply that those who have some formal schooling may have less concerns to the MWH services or were not using MWHs. This is consistent with findings from a study in Ethiopia