Factors affecting quality of antenatal care services at health centres in Blantyre, Malawi

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Date
2020-09-16
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Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
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Introduction Health care services during pregnancy and childbirth and after delivery are important for the survival and wellbeing of both the mother and the infant. Maternal and newborn health, are priorities for the Government of Malawi, as highlighted in the 2012 Ministry of Health Road Map for Accelerating Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality and the 2011- 2016 Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP). AIM The research is a cross sectional study that looks at the quality of ANC as a factor which is reducing the recommended number of times women are supposed to visit the ANC to have a fair consensus about as to why women are not attending the recommended 4 ANC visit. METHODOLOGY The study is a qualitative cross-sectional study to be conducted at health centres around Blantyre. This will involve women attending the ANC and also health workers at the health centre. The study will be conducted in 6 weeks mainly collecting data on the type of ANC services received and women’s perceptions on utilization of the ANC, data analysis and interpretation and dissemination. The inclusion criteria will be; women with gestation age 32 weeks and above, aged 18-40, attending the ANC being chosen at random. A written consent will be attained for each woman who participates in the data collection. Conclusion The expected results will show the setbacks in ANCs that are attributing to lower ANC attendance and so create a room of improvement in which can be tackled in the future resource appointment. Justification According WHO IDSR Guidelines in 2013/14 and as highlighted in the 2012 Ministry of Health Road Map for Accelerating Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality and the 2011-2016 Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP), Maternal and newborn health are priorities for the Government of Malawi (1). In Malawi, the proportion of women that received the recommended four or more ANC visits generally declined from 1992 (62%) to 2010 (46%) before rising modestly in 2015-16 to 51% (3). 95% of women who gave birth in the 5 years preceding 2016, received antenatal care from a skilled provider at least once for their last birth and 51% of women had 4 or more ANC visits (1). Our research aims at finding out why there is a high proportion of women who are not adhering to the recommended 4 ANC visits. The study is to be conducted in Health centres around Blantyre.
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Research Subject Categories::MEDICINE
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