evidence: More than two-thirds of the pregnant women in Africa have at least one antenatal care contact with a health care provider. However, to achieve the full life-saving potential that antenatal care promises for women and babies, four visits providing essential evidence-based interventions – a package often called focused antenatal care are required. Hence, identifying the factors associated with dropout of maternal health care utilization would have meaningful implications. The study aimed to assess antenatal care dropout and associated factors among mothers delivering in the public health facilities of Dire Dawa town, Ethiopia. [...] Antenatal care (ANC) is a maternal healthcare service received by pregnant women and adolescent girls from coordinated health care providers to support and sustain the mother’s optimal health during pregnancy, delivery, and puerperium with having and rearing of healthy baby [1]. It has been repeatedly shown to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths via identification of high-risk pregnancies [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Besides, it provides an opportunity for counseling on nutrition, birth readiness, delivery care, and contraception after birth. It is important particularly in settings and subgroups where the socioeconomic and public health resources are constrained [8, 9]. [...] Tadesse E. Antenatal care service utilization of pregnant women attending antenatal care in public hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic period. International Journal of Women’s Health. 2020;12:1181.