Abstract
The decades-long global efforts to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality have shown overall progress, but most developing countries are still lagging significantly. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of non-institutional childbirths in the Gambella State and to identify socio-demographic factors responsible for non-institutional utilization of available birth services by reproductive-aged mothers. A community-based cross-sectional study design was adopted using a multi-stage random sampling technique. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the selected place of birth. EpiData version 3.1 and SPSS version 13.0 were applied for data entry and analyses. All the 657 eligible mothers recruited for this study responded to the interview. 71% of the total respondents had non-institutional childbirths (NICB), and the rest had their most recent childbirth in an institution with skilled healthcare providers' assistance. Socio-demographic factors were significantly associated with NICB. Nuer (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.23-3.63) and Majang ethnic (AOR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.02-3.83) groups had higher rates of NICB than the rest of the study population. The prevalence of non-institutional childbirths in Gambella remained two times higher than the institutional childbirths.