Abstract

Appropriate antenatal care is one of the pillars of  safe motherhood; a worldwide effort launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other collaborating agencies in 1987 aimed at reducing the number of deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth.  This work was done to assess the knowledge and practices of pregnant women on the importance of ANC in the Muea Sub-Divisional Hospital. Seventy pregnant women attending Antenatal care at the Muea Sub-Divisional Hospital Buea were evaluated within the course of this study after signing an informed consent form.

A descriptive cross sectional study design was used. The information collected was analyzed using SPSS version and presented in charts and tables. The results revealed that (40%) of participants had an Advance level of Education which accounted for the average knowledge on Antenatal care. Only 31.43% of participants started antenatal care in the second trimester of Pregnancy hence practice was poor. 17.14% knew that lack of ANC can lead to anaemia.

The most notable challenges toward antenatal care were lack of finances (50%) and distance to the health facility (57.14%). It was concluded that pregnant women attending Antenatal care at the Muea Sub-Divisional Hospital do not have adequate knowledge on the importance of antenatal care.

The proportion of pregnant women that begin ANC during the first trimester of pregnancy is low. The level of regular attendance during ANC visits is good but can be improved upon .The major challenges hindering the use antenatal care services are lack of finance and time. Hence it is recommended that health campaigns are regularly organized in the community targeting pregnant women, women of reproductive ages and the general public to create awareness and educate them on ANC as a whole.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Antenatal Care (ANC) is given diverse meanings by special scholars, along with others the denotation that says, “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”. In short, it is care that is received by a woman during pregnancy that helps to make sure there is strong outcome for women and newborn. It is a key doorway point for expectant women to obtain a multiple range of wellbeing services such as nutritional hold up and avoidance or management of anemia: prevention, recognition and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and sexually transmitted infections.

Antenatal Care is an opening to endorse the reimbursement of skilled health personnels at birth and to support pregnant women to inquire about postpartum care for themselves and their newborn. It is also the ideal time to advice women about the profit of child spacing. Although, Antenatal Care has such smart advantages and strategies every year, according to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (2000), half a million girls and women pass away as a consequence of complications throughout pregnancy and after six weeks following delivery or childbirth. Ninety-nine (99%) of these deaths occur in developing countries.

The major reasons that delay the use of Antenatal Care are dissimilar from one country to the other. Added issues are lack of knowledge and attentiveness about reproductive healthiness in the community, family, and health care givers. Some of the consequences of little or no use of antenatal care are: hemorrhage, followed by eclampsia, abortion complications, obstructed labor and infection. To ease such factors, antenatal Care is the main central method for detecting and treating pregnancy troubles in the early hours. Antenatal care is the finest method to diminish maternal mortality and provide high-quality information for pregnant women regarding their birth and how to avert associated problems.

The greatest and main benefit of antenatal Care is to look after the health of women and their infants, as well as signifying the risk signals that will occur and requests to be treated by highly trained health professionals. A good number of studies point out that the utilization rate of Antenatal Care services is low owing to several factors that require to be examined such as socio-demographic factors and Social support knowledge about it. They concluded that eliminating these factors is essential to augment the women’s involvement in antenatal Care.

Maternal mortality is unacceptably high in low and low-middle-income countries. There were 303,000 maternal deaths in 2015, representing an overall global maternal mortality ratio of 216 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries (Nisar and White, 2003). The knowledge of antenatal care is an important factor affecting maternal mortality rates (Magadi et al., 2000).

A number of pregnant mothers still give birth at home under unfavorable conditions and without skilled attendance, despite reduced prices of maternal and child health care services (Kabir et al,. 2005).

Home births contribute to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Some African countries have failed to meet their Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs), especially goals 4 and 5 related to mother and child respectively, due to continued maternal and perinatal mortality (Tuladhar et al., 2009).

Pregnancy is a physiological process and period of potential risk, with Potential complications during intrapartum and postnatal period. Women at a local community attend the clinic for antenatal and postnatal care service, but during intrapartum period they either go to the nearby hospital or give birth at home (Clinic Statistics, 2011). Reported that women in Africa are at greater risk of dying from maternal causes than elsewhere in the world (Van Rensburg, 2004).

1.2 Statement of problem

A number of pregnant women started antenatal care in the last trimester of pregnancy instead of the first trimester, some never attend antenatal care before delivery they only when to the hospital when labor started and on finding out why they started late or never antenatal care they stated some reasons like; their homes were far from the health facility, they did same with their previous pregnancies, they needed their partner’s approval, their religion says God will help them follow up the pregnancy and protect them and the foetus, they never had the finances to start on time, the spend all their time working hence never had time to start antenatal care in the first trimester, the behaviour and altitude of the health workers, the unavailability of skilled health personnels to provide them with quality care,  they Anglophone crisis made it  unsafe for those living in nearby village to get access to quality care, the unavailability of equipment’s in the health facility etc. Most women who never attended antenatal care had one or two complications during or after delivery, all the above factors gave me reasons to assess the knowledge and practice of pregnant woman on the importance of antenatal so as to better educate and sensitize the pregnant women, women of reproductive ages and the community at large about the importance of ANC.

1.3 Research questions

1. What do pregnant women know about the importance of attending antenatal care?
2. What are the challenges to the practice of antenatal care by pregnant women in the Muea community?
3. To what extent are pregnant women aware of the consequences of not attending ANC?

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