Antenatal care in Mozambique: Number of visits and gestational age at the beginning of antenatal care.
Belarmina Reis-Muleva, Luciane Simões Duarte, Carla Marins Silva and 2 others
PMID 34730761WHAT IT FOUND
In Nampula, all postpartum women interviewed had antenatal care, but only 39.9% started by 16 weeks and 49.1% reported four or more visits.
Women starting late reported believing the belly was small, lacking a companion, or not knowing they were pregnant.
Key findings
01The final sample was 393 postpartum women; all reported antenatal care, but only 39.9% (n=157) started by 16 weeks, 49.1% (n=193) had four or more visits, and 34.1% (n=134) had both.
02Among women who started after 16 weeks, the most common reported reasons were thinking the belly was small (42.6%), not having a spouse as companion (24.1%), and not knowing they were pregnant (19.8%).
03In adjusted models, education was associated with starting by 16 weeks (high school ORadj 1.66; higher education ORadj 2.70) and with basic antenatal care (high school ORadj 1.99; higher education ORadj 3.87), while education, living with a partner, and paid work were associated with four or more visits (high school ORadj 2.12; higher education ORadj 11.78; partner ORadj 3.11; paid work ORadj 4.80).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study covered only postpartum women in one Mozambican municipality, mostly using public maternity services, so it may not represent other regions, private care, or high-risk pregnancies. Antenatal care timing, visit counts, and reasons were reported by women after birth, so memory or omission could affect the numbers. Because the design was cross-sectional, it cannot show that education, partner status, or paid work caused earlier or more frequent antenatal care. Some invited women refused or were not found, and the final analysed sample was 393 of 416 invited.
Declared interests
No funding or conflicts of interest declaration is reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that education or paid work causes better antenatal care. The study is cross-sectional and relies on postpartum self-report, so it can only show these factors were associated with earlier and more frequent care in this sample.