Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jul 1:10:35.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2393-10-35.

Quality of antenatal care in rural Tanzania: counselling on pregnancy danger signs

Andrea B Pembe  1 , Anders Carlstedt, David P Urassa, Gunilla Lindmark, Lennarth Nyström, Elisabeth Darj
Affiliations

Quality of antenatal care in rural Tanzania: counselling on pregnancy danger signs

Andrea B Pembe et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: The high rate of antenatal care attendance in sub-Saharan Africa, should facilitate provision of information on signs of potential pregnancy complications. The aim of this study was to assess quality of antenatal care with respect to providers' counselling of pregnancy danger signs in Rufiji district, Tanzania.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 18 primary health facilities. Thirty two providers were observed providing antenatal care to 438 pregnant women. Information on counselling on pregnancy danger signs was collected by an observer. Exit interviews were conducted to 435 women.

Results: One hundred and eighty five (42%) clients were not informed of any pregnancy danger signs. The most common pregnancy danger sign informed on was vaginal bleeding 50% followed by severe headache/blurred vision 45%. Nurse auxiliaries were three times more likely to inform a client of a danger sign than registered/enrolled nurses (OR = 3.7; 95% CI: 2.1-6.5) and Maternal Child Health Aides (OR = 2.3: 95% CI: 1.3-4.3) and public health nurses (OR = 2.5; CI: 1.4-4.2) were two times more likely to provide information on danger signs than registered/enrolled nurses. The clients recalled less than half of the pregnancy danger signs they had been informed during the interaction.

Conclusion: Two out of five clients were not counselled on pregnancy danger signs. The higher trained cadre, registered/enrolled nurses were not informing majority of clients pregnancy danger signs compared to the lower cadres. Supportive supervision should be made to enhance counselling of pregnancy danger signs. Nurse auxiliaries should be encouraged and given chance for further training and upgrading to improve their performance and increase human resource for health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box plot diagram of client-provider interaction time by cadre of providers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percent of clients who informed of 0, 1-4 or ≥5 pregnancy danger signs, according to the cadre of provider
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. WHO. Maternal mortality in 2005: Estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2007. Report No.: 978 92 4 159621 3.
    1. Lawn JE, Cousens S, Zupan J. 4 million neonatal deaths: When? Where? Why? Lancet. 2005;365:891–900. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71048-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stanton C, Lawn JE, Rahman H, Wilczynska-Ketende K, Hill K. Stillbirth rates: delivering estimates in 190 countries. Lancet. 2006;367:1487–94. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68586-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. NBS. Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2004/5. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and ORC Macro; 2005.
    1. MoHSW. Focused antenatal care, malaria and syphylis in pregnancy: Orientation package for service providers. Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Health and Social welfare, The United Republic of Tanzania; 2002.

Publication types

MeSH terms