Hospital located in the capital of Mufindi district -- Mafinga, and this hospital is public (owned by the government). The second hospital was Lugoda Hospital but this belongs to a private Tea Company and was located some miles in the interior/remote setting far from Mafinga Town. There were 52 dispensaries among which 4 were commercial, 10 were owned by faith-based whereas the rest were public.

In Mkuranga, there were 29 HFs in total in 2006, and of these HFs, only 1 was a hospital namely Mkuranga District Hospital - belonging to the government and located in the capital of the district (Mkuranga Town), about 60km from the centre of the City of Dar es Salaam \[[@B29]\]. There were 4 HCs, but only 3 of these were functioning for many14 (17.9)            21 (26.4)

A registration is officially considered to be late when the first ANC visit is paid during week 20 or later in pregnancy \[[@B40]\]. Late registration was viewed as being common among primigravidæ as indicated by 30 (85.7%) and 37 (86.0%) of the respondents in Mkuranga and Mufindi, respectively. Late registration was also considered a common behavior among the multigravidæ as reported by 33 (94.3%) and 35 (81.4%) of the respondents in the two districts, respectively. Pregnant women's irregular and untimely attendance to clinics was reported to limit access to ANC services. It was lamented that healthcare seeking behaviour in both districts is culturally rooted meaning that cultural values have an important influence on people's