Abstract
Background
Antenatal care (ANC) is essential for ensuring the well-being of pregnant women and their fetuses. This study models the association between achieving adequate ANC and various health and health-seeking indicators across wealth quintiles in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Methods and findings
We analyzed data from 638,265 women across 47 LMICs using available Demographic and Health Surveys from 2010 to 2022. Via multilevel logistic regression analyses adjusted for a series of confounding variables and country and wealth quintile fixed effects, we estimated the projected impact of achieving adequate ANC utilization and quality on a series of health and health care indicators: facility birth, postnatal care, childhood immunizations, and childhood stunting and wasting. Achieving adequate levels of ANC utilization and quality (defined as at least 4 visits, blood pressure monitoring, and blood and urine testing) was positively associated with health-seeking behavior across the majority of countries. The strongest association was observed for facility birth, followed by postnatal care and child immunization. The strength of the associations varied across countries and wealth quintiles, with more significant ones observed in countries with lower baseline ANC utilization levels and among the lower wealth quintiles. The associations of ANC with childhood stunting and wasting were notably less statistically significant compared to other indicators. Despite rigorous adjustments for potential confounders, a limitation to the methodology is that it is possible that unobserved variables may still impact outcomes.
Conclusions
Strengthening ANC is associated with improved use of other health care in LMICs. ANC could serve as a critical platform for improving health outcomes for mothers and their children, emphasizing its importance beyond direct impact on maternal and neonatal mortality.
Funder
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference40 articles.
1. Antenatal care services and its implications for vital and health outcomes of children: evidence from 193 surveys in 69 low-income and middle-income countries;J Kuhnt;BMJ Open,2017
2. The United Nations Children’s Fund. Antenatal care [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2023 Jul 18]. https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/antenatal-care/.
3. World health Organization. WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience [Internet]. 2016 [cited 2023 Jul 18]. https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789241549912.
4. Coverage of completion of four ANC visits based on recommended time schedule in Northern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study design;M Ftwi;PLoS ONE,2020
5. Relationship between professional antenatal care and facility delivery: an assessment of Colombia;JC Trujillo;Health Policy Plan,2014