OBJECTIVES This study asked the following questions: 1) Does HIV testing in pregnancy identify women who previously were not known to be HIV positive? 2) When in pregnancy are women identified as HIV infected? 3) Does HIV seroconversion occur during the prenatal care period? METHODS Medical records of 97 women from two primarily indigent care hospitals in Houston, TX who were found to be HIV ...

Objectives: This study asked the following questions: 1) Does HIV testing in pregnancy identify women who previously were not known to be HIV positive? 2) When in pregnancy are women identified as HIV infected? 3) Does HIV seroconversion occur during the prenatal care period? Methods: Medical records of 97 women from two primarily indigent care hospitals in Houston, TX who were found to be HIV ...

This study examines women's use of pregnancy-related medical care in Brazil and South Africa, two multiracial societies with very different histories of race-related legislation that could affect medical care utilization. The analysis uses nationally representative household-level data to show that inequality in the distribution of socioeconomic resources across racial groups and differences in...

Prenatal care should improve infant health, yet research frequently finds only weak effects. If there are two kinds of pregnancies, 'complicated' and 'normal' ones, then combining these pregnancies may lead prenatal care to appear ineffective. Data from the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS) offers compelling evidence. The standard 2SLS approach yields obviously bimodal residual...

Background: Employing informatics in the health care systems can improve the quality of health care through the effective use of information systems. Health informatics is potentially a powerful and dynamic method for providing health education. Reproductive health is a necessary part of health for individuals, couples and families. It deals with different features of health care, such as: impr...

OBJECTIVES This study is based on the 2000 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in Haiti. Using the DHS information on women aged 15 to 49 who had given birth during the three years preceding the survey interview, this study was intended to: (1) examine the determinants of the likelihood of the women using prenatal care in the rural areas and in the urban areas of the country and (2) f...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of prenatal care offered in 12 Basic Health Units (BHU) in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, through a review of medical and nurse charts, before and after the municipalization of the public health system. The indicator used considered excellence in care as: starting prenatal care in the first quarter of pregnancy; at least six medical visits; at l...