Antenatal care fosters safe motherhood

A baby starts developing after conception and it is precisely that moment that a woman becomes a mother.

This title comes with the responsibility of ensuring that both the mother and the child are safe throughout and after the pregnancy. Antenatal care visits are one way of ensuring that the mother and child get all the necessary attention during pregnancy.

This is the care a woman receives from skilled provider; namely a doctor, midwife and an obstetrician. This care is important for monitoring pregnancy in order to reduce risks of illness, disability or death for the mother and child during pregnancy, delivery and the postnatal period (42 days after delivery).

In Uganda, 97% of women who gave birth in the five years preceding the Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS 2016) received antenatal care from a skilled provider at least once for their last birth.

Typically, antenatal care should begin two months into the pregnancy and a woman should attend at least four visits in the company of her spouse. However, according to Unicef, globally 85% of pregnant women access antenatal care at least once and only 58% get the recommended visits.

The statistics in Uganda are not different. Only six out of every 10 women attend four or more antenatal care visits. While there is no difference between the proportion of women that received antenatal care from a skilled provider by residence (98% for women in urban areas and 97% of women in rural areas) women in urban areas are more likely to have had four or more antenatal care visits that rural women represented at 65% and 58% respectively. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY 

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