Table 1.

Description and measurement of variables included in the models, North Gondar, 2012

Variables	Descriptions	Measurements
Dependent variables	Women who received ANC at least once from a skilled provider, delivery attended by a skilled provider and Women who received PNC at least once from a skilled provider	For each indicator, ‘Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ otherwise as ‘0’
ANC, Birth attendance and PNC by a skilled provider (three dependent variables)
Level-1 predictor variables	Individual and household characteristics
Birth order	Birth order of women’s most recent birth (index birth)	It is divided in to four categories: first birth, 2nd- 3rd, 4th-5th and above 5th
Maternal and husband educational status	Highest level of education attained by the respondent (mother) and her husband	For each variable, it is categorized in to three: illiterate, primary and secondary and above secondary
Wealth quintile	Household wealth status is computed by principal component analysis from ten variables (presence of own farmland, own toilet facility, bank account, mobile phone, electricity, roof of house with corrugated iron sheet, number of cows/oxen, horses/ mules/donkeys goats/sheep and chicken)	The wealth status is categorized in to five groups and ranked from poorest to wealthiest quintile.
Awareness on risk of pregnancy	Awareness of women on risk of pregnancy	When women mentioned at least one major risk factor, the value is ‘1’ if not it is ‘0’
Health professionals preferred by women	Women prefer health professionals for their maternity care	Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ and no responses as ‘0’.
Awareness on places to get skilled providers	Women know appropriate health facilities to get skilled providers	When appropriate facilities are known, the value is ‘1’ if not it is ‘0’.
Pregnancy wontedness	Pregnancy wanted or not	Pregnancy wanted or miss-timed coded as ‘0’ and unwanted coded as ‘1’
ANC in previous pregnancy	Presence of at least one ANC visit in previous pregnancies	Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ and no responses as ‘0’.
Agreed on postnatal check up	Women agreed on the need of postnatal check up after normal delivery	When women agreed, the value is ‘1’ if not it is ‘0’.
Level-2 predictor variables	Communal (kebele) characteristics
Source of income	The kebele population main source of income	It is categorized in to two: Farming and mixed (farming and trading)
Self sustained	Presence of enough production for feeding the population	Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ and no responses as ‘0’.
Average distance	Average distance (in Kilometer) of villages in each kebele to the nearest health center	Supervisors estimated the distances of villages from health centers. The average values were calculated and rounded to one decimal place.
	Health facility characteristics
Presence of signal functions	Presence of all the six signal functions in basic essential obstetric care facilities (health centers)	If all signal functions are present, the value is labeled as ‘1’ if one or more are missing, the value is labeled as ‘0’
Duty service	Maternity service for 24 hrs and 7 days	Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ and no responses as ‘0’.
Availability of obstetric guidelines	Obstetric guidelines available for reference by staff at all times	Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ and no responses as ‘0’.
Payment requirements	Maternity clients required to purchase/ provide supplies/drugs at time of delivery	Yes’ responses are coded as ‘1’ and no responses as ‘0’.
Overall infrastructure	Infrastructures of the health facility (examination and delivery rooms, refrigerator, water source, power supply, toilet facilities, drainage system…)	Based on records of observation, the infrastructure of the health facility is categorized as not satisfactory (1) and satisfactory (2).
Basic equipments	Presence of basic equipments (BP apparatus, stethoscope, fetal stethoscope, adult and baby weighing scales, delivery and episiotomy sets, sterilizers…)	Based on records of observation, the variable is categorized as not satisfactory (1) and satisfactory (2).