INTRODUCTION Assessment of pregnant mothers for nutritional status is a neglected intervention. In Kaabong Hospital, nutritional status of pregnant mothers was not assessed during antenatal care (ANC) visits. A quality improvement (QI) project was initiated to increase nutritional assessment using midupper arm circumference (MUAC) among pregnant mothers during ANC visits from 0 to 90% between A...

BACKGROUND Maternal mortality is higher and skilled attendance at delivery is lower in the slums of Nairobi (Kenya) compared to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Lower numbers of public health facilities, greater distance to facilities, and higher costs of maternal health services in Nairobi could explain these differences. OBJECTIVE By comparing the use of maternal health care services among women...

BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms during pregnancy can have multiple adverse effects on perinatal outcomes, including maternal morbidity and mortality. The potential impact of antenatal depressive symptoms on maternal health care use, however, has been little explored in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper investigates whether maternal health care utilisation varies as a function o...

BACKGROUND Prechemotherapy absolute neutrophil count (ANC) cutoffs are arbitrary and vary across institutions and clinicians. Similarly, subjective guidelines are utilized for the administration of prophylactic antibiotics in neutropenic dogs. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the impact of various ANC cutoffs on chemotherapy administration in dogs with lymphoma treated with CHOP chemotherapy and to det...

In a pastoralist setting in Ethiopia, we assessed changes in attendance between the first and subsequent antenatal care (ANC) visits following the implementation of non-monetary incentives in a primary health care centre over a 3-year period from October 2009 to September 2012. Incentives included the provision of a bar of soap, a bucket, a mosquito net, sugar, cooking oil, a jerrycan and a del...

OBJECTIVE To assess health workers' compliance with the procedures set in the focused antenatal care (ANC) guidelines in rural Uganda, Tanzania and Burkina Faso; to compare the compliance within and among the three study sites; and to appraise the logistic and supply of the respective health facilities (HF). METHODS The cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural HF in three African coun...

BACKGROUND Antenatal care (ANC) provides an important opportunity for pregnant women with a wide range of interventions and is considered as an important basic component of reproductive health care. METHODS In 2008, severe maternal morbidity audit was established at Saint Francis Designated District Hospital (SFDDH), in Kilombero district in Tanzania, to ascertain substandard care and impleme...

Background: Birth weight reflects gestational conditions and development during the fetal period. Low birth weight (LBW) may be associated with antenatal care (ANC) adequacy and quality. The purpose of this study was to analyze ANC adequacy and its relationship with LBW in the Unified Health System in Brazil. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil, 2004 to 20...

BACKGROUND Inadequate antenatal care (ANC) can lead to missed diagnosis of danger signs or delayed referral to emergency obstetrical care, contributing to maternal mortality. In developing countries, ANC quality is often limited by skill and knowledge gaps of the health workforce. In 2011, the Mentorship, Enhanced Supervision for Healthcare and Quality Improvement (MESH-QI) program was implemen...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization has recommended at least four antenatal care (ANC) visits and skilled attendants at birth. Most pregnant women in rural communities in low-income countries do not achieve the minimum recommended visits and deliver without skilled attendants. With the aim of increasing number of ANC visits, reducing home deliveries, and supplementing care given by ANC cli...