Assessing the Effect of Mobile Phone Accessibility on Antenatal Care Service Utilization Among Pregnant Women in Turkana County.

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals target reducing maternal mortality to below 70 per 100,000 births by 2030, yet Kenya's rate remains high at 362, with Turkana County particularly affected due to limited Antenatal Care (ANC) access. Growing mobile phone use in Kenya offers a promising way to overcome these barriers and improve maternal healthcare in marginalized areas. This paper assessed the effect of Mobile Phone Accessibility on Antenatal Care Service Utilization Among Pregnant Women in Turkana County. A mixed-methods design was employed, involving structured questionnaires with 253 healthcare providers and in-depth interviews with pregnant and postpartum women. Quantitative findings revealed that 77% of providers reported using mobile phones to follow up with mothers, and 78% observed that mothers used phones to seek ANC-related information. However, only 41% of providers felt adequately trained in digital health tools, and 54% believed that many women could not use such tools without support. Regression analysis confirmed that mobile phone accessibility was a statistically significant predictor of ANC uptake (R² = 0.705, p < 0.001), with accessibility demonstrating a strong standardized coefficient (β = 0.585). This underscores the foundational role of physical access to mobile devices in enhancing maternal health service utilization. Qualitative interviews enriched these findings, illustrating how SMS reminders improved clinic attendance by reducing forgetfulness and providing emotional reassurance. However, low phone ownership, digital literacy barriers, and reliance on shared phones constrained effectiveness. The study concludes that mobile phones offer a promising pathway to improving ANC uptake in remote contexts like Turkana, but maximizing impact requires addressing network reliability, digital literacy, and gendered access barriers.