BACKGROUND Prepaid contributory systems are increasingly being recognized as key mechanisms in achieving universal health coverage in low and middle-income countries. Peru created the Seguro Integral de Salud (SIS) to increase health service use amongst the poor by removing financial barriers. The SIS transfers funds on a fee-for-service basis to the regional health offices to cover recurrent c...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the dose-response relationship and synergetic effect of the maternal educational level and two measures of prenatal care on neonatal low birth weight (LBW) risk. METHODS Data were derived from the Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System (PHCSS) from January 2001 to September 2009 in Kunshan City, Jiangsu province, eastern China, which included data on 31412 women w...

INTRODUCTION The declining number of family physicians providing pregnancy care is of concern because they are an important source of pregnancy care in underserved communities. Innovative approaches might reinforce family physician participation in pregnancy care for the underserved. Since group prenatal visits have been shown to improve patient education, support, and satisfaction, we implemen...

This study explored protective factors against prenatal depression in pregnant women. One-hundred thirty-four pregnant women were recruited from an obstetric clinic and public health center in Korea. Dyadic adjustment, sense of mastery, and prenatal depression were assessed using structured questionnaires. Prenatal depression was assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EDPS). Bi...

BACKGROUND Vietnam has achieved considerable success in economic development, poverty reduction, and health over a relatively short period of time. However, there is concern that inequalities in health outcomes and intervention coverage are widening. This study explores if inequalities in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition changed over time in Vietnam in 1997-2006, a...

INTRODUCTION The drive toward universal health coverage (UHC) is central to the post 2015 agenda, and is incorporated as a target in the new Sustainable Development Goals. However, it is recognised that an equity dimension needs to be included when progress to this goal is monitored. WHO have developed a monitoring framework which proposes a target of 80% coverage for all populations regardless...

BACKGROUND Prenatal healthcare is likely to prevent adverse outcomes, but an adequate review of utilization and its determinants is lacking. OBJECTIVE To review systematically the evidence for the determinants of prenatal healthcare utilization in high-income countries. METHOD Search of publications in EMBASE, CINAHL and PubMed (1992-2010). Studies that attempted to study determinants of pr...

background : one of the important health indicators in every society is maternal and neonatal health status. provision of the best prenatal care can reduce mortality rate in these two susceptible groups. this study focused on the effect of maternal care log book on pregnancy outcome. methods : this was a clinical trial and 180 samples were randomly selected from the mothers referred to private ...

PURPOSE To characterize prenatal care and to evaluate the association of its adequacy with maternal, socioeconomic and environmental sanitation characteristics, as well as the influence of these factors on the birth weight of the children. METHODS The eligible population for the study consisted of all women who had children during 2009 and lived in the city of Queimadas at the time of data co...

The gestational state is a period of particular vulnerability to diseases that affect maternal and fetal health. Stress during gestation may represent a powerful influence on maternal mental health and offspring brain plasticity and development. Here we show that the fetal transcriptome, through microRNA (miRNA) regulation, responds to prenatal stress in association with epigenetic signatures o...