How Do We Improve Antenatal Care Attendance in Nigeria?
A woman’s experience of care is key to transforming antenatal care and creating thriving families and communities. In my experience and data available from research, postnatal care (PNC) attendance is higher than antenatal care (ANC) attendance in Nigeria.
I am of the opinion that this is the case because we have a high demand for immunization services across the country. Mothers know it is important for their children to get vaccinated as a preventive measure against infections and diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that women start antenatal care at a gestational age of less than 12 weeks; that is the first trimester. It is also recommended that throughout pregnancy, women should have at least eight contacts with a health provider.
I had the opportunity to conduct some research in Delta State that showed most (66.3%) pregnant women had their first ANC visit in the second trimester (in the fourth month of pregnancy); clearly different from WHO guidelines for antenatal care. Further investigation showed that after delivery, over a third (37.9%) of mothers took their infants for postnatal care in the first two weeks after delivery. Indicative of a seeming urgency to ensure their babies received the care available at the health facility; especially immunization.
This study also showed that 71.3% of lactating women attended postnatal clinic at least 4 times while the remaining 28.8% had an attendance of more than 4 times. However, majority (87.1%) of the women did not know how many times they attended antenatal clinic during pregnancy, which seems to indicate they did not think it was an important exercise. The demand for postnatal care is way higher than that for antenatal care. How can we change this? The period of pregnancy is critical in ensuring women and their unborn children remain healthy during and after pregnancy.
These questions come to mind:
- Why is the demand for postnatal care higher than that for antenatal care?
- How can we increase demand for ANC services?
- What key services can we promote to attract pregnant women for ANC?
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