Background: Almost all women experience moderate-to-severe pain during labor which adversely affectsrnparturient and fetuses. Authorities in the fields of obstetrics and anaesthesia encourage use of labourrnanalgesia. The practice of labor analgesia in Africa is not a well-established service, especially in the low-rnincome countries like Ethiopia. The goal of this study was to assess the practice of labour analgesia and itsrnperceived barriers among health care providers working in public hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.rnMethods and materials: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted in four public hospitalsrnof Addis Ababa. Cluster sampling technique was used to select the public hospitals. All of the healthcarernproviders who are supposed to be involved in the management of labor pain in the clustered hospitals werernincluded. Pretested structured questionnaires were used to collect data with regular supervision and followrnup. Data was entered in to epi info-7 and analyzed with SPSS-20 statistical software. Results were presentedrnusing narratives, graphs, tables and charts. Conclusions were drawn by means of simple percentages andrninferential statistics using binary logistic regression, with P-value < 0.05 at 95% Confidence Interval (CI)rntaken to be statistically significant.rnResults: Of the 177 respondents, 81 (45.8 %) Anesthetists, 61 (34.5%) Midwives, 26 (14.7%)rnObstetricians/gynecologists, and 9 (5.1%) Anesthesiologists were involved. About 54.2% practitionersrnoffered any form of labor analgesia. Among these, only 1(0.6%) offered it routinely, 42 (23.7%) sometimesrnand 53 (29.9%)on maternal request. Eighty-one respondents (45.8%) never practiced labor analgesia. Therncommonest pharmacological labor analgesia used were opioids (35.6%). The major reasons adduced forrnnot offering labor analgesia routinely or not at all were; non-availability of drugs and equipment (59.9%),rnlack of emphasis towards labor pain management by health service management system (44.1%), shortagernof skilled man power (38.4%), and fear of fetal distress to administer systemic analgesics (33.3%).rnConclusion and Recommendations: The routine practice of labor analgesia by healthcare providers wasrnvery low in the study facilities. There is need for team work by all the stakeholders in the health sector andrnthe government to step up its use, and make childbirth a more fulfilling experience for laboring mothers.rnKey words: labor, pain, analgesia, practice, barriers