Evaluation of quality of antenatal care services in selected healthcare centres of Mumbwa and Lusaka districts of Zambia: pregnant women’s perspectives
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Date
2019-05
Authors
Mukwato, Patricia Katowa
Mwiinga, Kalusopa Victoria
Emmanuel, Musenge
Banda, Yolan
Muleya, Mutinta Crecious
Maimbolwa, Margaret C
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Nursing and Midwifery
Abstract
Antenatal care (ANC) has been recommended as a service that can reduce both maternal and newborn
mortalities. However, even in areas recording high ANC attendance, there are unevenly high levels of
maternal and new born mortalities. Evidence of a weak relationship between ANC use and maternal and
newborn survival has motivated recent calls to focus on content and quality of care provided rather
than mere ANC attendance. This was a descriptive cross sectional study which was designed to
evaluate the quality of antenatal care services in two health facilities in Lusaka and two in Mumbwa
districts of Zambia. The health facilities were selected purposively based on poor maternal outcomes
such as high maternal mortality ratio. Women attending antenatal clinics were selected using simple
random sampling. Data was collected using a client exist interview schedule designed by World Health
Organization for assessing quality of antenatal care. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Scientist (SPSS) version 24.0. The study revealed a lot of variations in the care provided at the
four sites. None of the women had all the blood tests for haemoglobin, grouping and X-match, HIV and
syphilis conducted from three out of the four health facilities, while at the fourth, only 30% of women
had all the blood tests conducted. Furthermore, less than 20% of women had a full head to toe
examination. While less than 10% of women from each of the facility reported that the health providers
met the requirements for provision of privacy. Despite not meeting the minimum standards of care, only
less than 5% of women categorized the care as poor. All the four health facilities recorded low quality of
care on all domains of antenatal care. Therefore, if antenatal care has to achieve its intended purpose of
reducing adverse maternal and new born outcomes, then quality of care delivered during pregnancy
should be the focus as opposed mere attendance.
Key words:Quality, antenatal care services, evaluation.
Description
Article
Keywords
Antenatal care services--Zambia