BACKGROUND Antenatal care can play an important role in the prevention of preterm birth. Evaluation of antenatal care is usually based on the number of visits rather than the content of care, using tools such as the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Use index. This article presents an analysis of the relation between specific elements of antenatal care and the risk of preterm birth compared with consid...

BACKGROUND To examine whether exposure to group antenatal care increased women's health literacy by improving their ability to interpret and utilize health messages compared to women who received standard, individual antenatal care in Ghana. METHODS We used a prospective cohort design. The setting was a busy urban district hospital in Kumasi, the second most populous city in Ghana. Pregnant w...

PURPOSE This study evaluated knowledge and practices of childbearing women on key childcare practices within the Safe Motherhood project, administered by the Ntcheu District Health Office in the Republic of Malawi. The study excluded men and elderly women. METHODS The design was cross-sectional, and utilized quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis procedures. Data were also ...

BACKGROUND Due to persistent significantly poorer Aboriginal perinatal outcomes, the Women's and Newborns' Health Network, Western Australian Department of Health, required a comprehensive appraisal of antenatal services available to Aboriginal women as a starting point for future service delivery modelling. A services audit was conducted to ascertain the usage frequency and characteristics of ...

BACKGROUND In Tanzania, more than 90% of all pregnant women attend antenatal care at least once and approximately 62% four times or more, yet less than five in ten receive skilled delivery care at available health units. We conducted a qualitative study in Ngorongoro district, Northern Tanzania, in order to gain an understanding of the health systems and socio-cultural factors underlying this d...

Background: Focused Antenatal care (FANC) is personalized care provided to a pregnant woman which prepares her for childbirth and readiness for complications. It provides health promotion and preventive health services, including nutritional support and prevention and treatment of anemia; prevention, detection and treatment of malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections (stis)/HIV...

Introduction: The new focused antenatal care model recognizes that every pregnant woman is at risk for complications and four antenatal care visits are recommended for most pregnant women; the first one being early in the first trimester. When pregnant women attend antenatal care late they miss the cares being provided in the first 16 weeks. Therefore it is important to assess timing of first a...

BACKGROUND Many studies show that the vast majority of Nigerian women register for antenatal care late and that the determinants may differ from those found in developed countries. OBJECTIVE To determine the reasons for late booking among women presenting at the antenatal clinic of a major tertiary hospital in the Niger Delta, Nigeria DESIGN A cross sectional questionnaire based survey. S...