BACKGROUND: Caesarean section is the commonest major operation performed by obstetricians worldwide. Post caesarean infection is one of the major complications of caesarean section and according to World Health Organization sepsis is the third leading cause of maternal mortality. Various modalities of preventing post caesarean infection has been employed however preoperative vaginal cleansing has been recommended but its practice is not popular due to dearth of local studies on its practice. Furthermore, it is not known if cleansing the vagina with povidone iodine and chlorhexidine preoperatively will have the same effect in preventing post caesarean infectious morbidity. AIM: To compare the effect of povidone iodine versus chlorhexidine in prevention of post caesarean infectious morbidity at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA). METHODOLOGY: The research was a randomized controlled trial involving 224 consenting pregnant women who meet the inclusion criteria undergoing elective or emergency caesarean section at AE-FUTHA. They were randomized into 2 groups; group A (povidone iodine), group B (chlorhexidine gluconate). Group A received pre-operative vaginal cleansing with povidone iodine while patient in group B received preoperative vaginal cleansing with Chlorhexidine gluconate while patients were still under anesthesia in the theatre. Both groups also received prophylactic antibiotics and anterior abdominal wall scrubbing. Infectious morbidity was compared among the groups postoperatively. DATA ANALYSIS: Data was collated, tabulated and analyzed using statistical package for social science (IBM SPSS) software (version 20, Chicago II, USA). Continuous variables was presented as mean and standard deviation (Mean + 2SD), while categorical variables was presented as numbers and percentages. xi Chi- square test (X2 ) was used for comparison between two groups for qualitative variables. Student t- test was used for comparison between groups for quantitative variables. Relative risk and 95% confidence interval was calculated for outcome measures while logistic regressions was done to determine any relationship between the primary outcomes and the confounding measures. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.