Who provides good quality prenatal care in the Philippines?

Type Journal Article - Discussion Papers
Title Who provides good quality prenatal care in the Philippines?
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2010
URL http://aboutphilippines.ph/filer/pidsdps1018.pdf
Abstract
This paper attempts to illustrate the quality of prenatal care services provided by different health care providers. Section I presents the introduction and overview of the study. Section II discusses important information gathered during literature review which was organized into prenatal care and its benefits, recommended practice and discussion of quality of prenatal services. Sections III and IV presents the detailed objectives and methodology adapted in the study. Section V discusses the results of the analysis. Lastly, Section V and VI presents the discussions and policy recommendations. Background. The MDG targets for the Philippines to reduce the maternal and infant mortality deaths are yet to be reached. The 2008 National Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) shows that while 90% percent of pregnant women access prenatal care services from a medical professional, only 60% of them are assisted by medical professional during birth. The quality of care in prenatal care services provided by health professional is not yet known in the literature. Objectives. To describe the proportion of good quality of prenatal care services provided by doctors, nurses and midwives, and traditional birth attendants, and identify the relationship between economic and demographic variables and the quality of care. Study Design. The study used a cross-sectional data from the 2003 and 2008 NDHS to compare the two time periods. It used information on 4,907 (2003) and 4,709 (2008) women who were pregnant five years prior to the two surveys. Outcome Measures. The quality measures during prenatal check-up are: (1) weight checked; (2) height checked; (3) blood pressure taken; (4) urine examination performed; (5) blood sample examination performed; (6) told about pregnancy complications; (7) told where to go for pregnancy complications; (8) received tetanus toxoid injection; and (9) received iron supplementation. Results. Women who are older, poorer and with lower educational attainment received poorer quality of prenatal care compared to women who are younger, richer and better educated. Multiparous women also received poorer quality of prenatal care. Among the health care providers, doctors provide very good quality of prenatal care while majority of midwives and nurses provide fair quality of prenatal care. Not surprisingly, majority of the traditional birth attendants provide poor quality of prenatal care.

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