Reasons for presenting to antenatal care clinics in a sample of Pakistani women and their knowledge of WHO antenatal care package.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of antenatal care is to ensure that a woman has a safe pregnancy and that does not mean absence of any disease during this period. Antenatal care allows screening of preeclampsia, fetal abnormalities and other prevention strategies to be incorporated. The purpose of this study was to assess the reason for attending antenatal care clinics and knowledge of antenatal care content package in women.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 395 pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic at the Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019. Each eligible woman was asked about the reason for attendance and her knowledge about WHO standardized antenatal care package.

RESULTS: The commonest reason for utilizing antenatal care in booked attendees was place of birth concern (25.9%) and in not booked was referral from private centers (33.6%) which was statistically significant (p=0.006). Both booked and not booked women (67.9% vs 59.1%, p=0.409) stated avoidance of complication during pregnancy and labor as the commonest reason for attendance. Women with higher parity were more likely to identify weight measurement (p=0.001), iron and folic acid supplementation (p=0.001), and urine detailed report (p=0.002), as content of the standard package.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that women did not utilize antenatal care clinics for improving their health or the health of their fetus. The knowledge of the antenatal care package was limited to weight measurement and supplements. Moreover, attendance and visits at an antenatal care facility do not equate to good service provision.