OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the effect of maternal health insurance status on the utilisation of antenatal, skilled delivery and postnatal care. DESIGN A population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS We utilised the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey data of Ghana, which included 2987 women who provided information on maternal health insurance status. PRIMARY ...

BACKGROUND Achieving higher rates of partner HIV testing and couples testing among pregnant and postpartum women in sub-Saharan Africa is essential for the success of combination HIV prevention, including the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. We aimed to determine whether providing multiple HIV self-tests to pregnant and postpartum women for secondary distribution is more effective at...

INTRODUCTION Utilization of antenatal care, institutional delivery and postnatal care services in Nigeria are poor even by african average. METHODS We analysed the 2013 Nigeria DHS to determine factors associated with utilization of these health MCH indicators by employing both bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions. RESULTS Overall, 54% of women had at least four ANC visits, 37% d...

BACKGROUND Ghana missed out in attaining Millennium Development Goal 5 in 2015. The provision of adequate prenatal and postnatal care remains problematic, with poor evidence on women's views on met and unmet maternity care needs across all regions in Ghana. This paper examines maternal care utilization in Ghana by applying WHO indicators for focused maternal care utilization. METHODS Two-step...

An experimental study using a random sample of 40 staff patients in two inner-city maternity hospital clinics was conducted to determine the optimum time to teach postpartum content to maternity patients. Instruction of special postpartum content, or the lack of it, to prenatal and postpartum patients yielded no statistical difference in the results. However, the methodology used in patient ins...

BACKGROUND Universal postnatal contact services are provided in several Australian states, but their impact on women's postnatal care experience has not been evaluated. Furthermore, there is lack of evidence or consensus about the optimal type and amount of postpartum care after hospital discharge for maternal outcomes. This study aimed to assess the impact of providing Universal Postnatal Cont...

Background Postpartum women are at high risk of unintended pregnancy as many do not receive timely postpartum contraception. Utilization of routine postpartum care varies widely. Conversely, the Well-Baby Visit (WBV) for newborns is highly utilized and provides an opportunity to discuss contraception with mothers. This project aimed to test the feasibility and acceptability of having pediatric ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between the traditional Chinese practice of postpartum care, known as zuoyuezi, and postpartum depression (PPD) in China. METHODS A total of 342 Chinese women were surveyed 6- to 8-weeks post partum using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and items assessing sociodemographics, health history, peripartum experiences, zuoyuezi, and social su...

Familiarity to the mother and the novelty afforded by the postnatal environment are two contrasting sources of neonatal influence. One hypothesis regarding their relationship is the maternal modulation hypothesis, which predicts that the same neonatal stimulation may have different effects depending on the maternal context. Here we tested this hypothesis using physical development, indexed by b...