Abstract

Dr. Muhammad Khaliq, Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Sohaib* and Dr. Amna Khan

ABSTRACT

Background: Maternal mortality rate is very high worldwide. Every minute a women is dying due to pregnancy related complication in the world. The risk of maternal mortality is 200 times more in developing or low income countries than developed or high income countries. The health of mother can only be improved to proper checkup during pregnancy at antenatal clinics, early detection of pregnancy related complications and prompt treatment can reduce mortality rate. Antenatal Care (ANC), is given different meanings by different scholars, "Antenatal Care means care before birth and includes education, counseling, screening and treatment to monitor and to promote the well-being of the mother and fetus”. Developing countries this shows that the Antenatal care activity is very weak in developing country. The main reasons that hinder the use of Antenatal Care are different from Country to Country. In our country antenatal services are not available to all the patients and lack of awareness and education among people regarding antenatal many women develop pregnancy related complications. Maternal mortality rate of Pakistan is 178/100,000, which is very high. Aim of study: This study will help to know how much percentage of women came to benefit from this very important service of women’s health. And to assess knowledge and attitudes of pregnant women regarding the benefits of Antenatal care utilization at tertiary care unit of out hospital. Method: It is a cross-sectional study conducted at tertiary care unit, Nishtar hospital Multan from March 2016 to August 2016. Total 130 women were selected through random sampling technique. Data was collected in the form of questionnaire. Informed consent was taken from all the respondents. Pregnant women from age 15 to 45 years were enrolled in the study. Results: Total 130 candidates were enrolled in the study. 68 (52.3%) pregnant women were from age group 15-25, 33% (44) from 26-35 years age group and 17.6% (23) from 36-45 years. 72 respondents were housewife, 58 were working women. 70.9% respondents (candidates) were from urban areas and 29.1% from rural areas. 61% of the candidates were having monthly income less than 15000 PKR. Results showed that 125/130 women said that antenatal care is essential for them remaining 5 were not having any knowledge about ANC. 104 respondent were in favor of atleast 4 visits. Only 55/130 candidates were having knowledge regarding screening for infectious disease. 122 candidates (respondents) said that vaginal bleeding during pregnancy is an alarming sign, 105 pregnant women said that severe abdominal pain is a sign of danger, mostly women had no knowledge about remaining dander signs. 108 respondents said that hospital is better place for delivery. 98 women were having positive response and support regarding antenatal care from husband or family. All the respondents were against smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy. About 100 pregnant ladies were having no information regarding inj. Tetanus Toxoid. Only 57 candidates knew about iron and folic acid supplements importance. During assessment of attitude regarding antenatal care among pregnant women, almost 128/130 women showed positive response and 2 women having negative reviews regarding ANC. 60 candidates agreed that Blood Pressure monitoring is essential during pregnancy but very less percentage of women do this practice. Result calculated from the questionnaire showed that approximately 65-70% (84.6 +/- 5.54) pregnant women were having Knowledge about Antenatal Care. Approximately 59% (76.7 +/-3.4) respondents showed positive response regarding antenatal care, 22% showed negative and remaining 19% were neutral. The frequency of practice regarding antenatal care dropped to 47%. Conclusion: The antenatal care utilization is more among educated women and women from urban areas. Most of the women cannot follow antenatal care because of transport problems for patients from village, lack of family support and poor socioeconomic status. The overall knowledge and attitude was good among pregnant women, but there was lack of antenatal care practice. Government should provide easily accessible Antenatal care facilities to all rural areas, in order to improve maternal health.