In recent decades antenatal screening has become one of the most routine procedure of pregnancy-follow up and the subject of hot debate in bioethics circles. In this paper the rationale behind doing antenatal screening and the actual and potential problems that it may cause will be discussed. The paper will examine the issue from the point of view of parents, health care professionals and, most...

BACKGROUND Antenatal care has been routine practice throughout the world since early in the 20th century, and in most developed countries, antenatal care consists of a scheduled program of individual consultations with a healthcare practitioner, using a doctor or midwife. Women seek antenatal care that provides a physical review of the health and development of their unborn baby, the reassuranc...

BACKGROUND High levels of satisfaction among women with the antenatal care services will increase the compliance of antenatal visits during pregnancy. Thus, this study was done to assess the level of satisfaction among women on the quality of antenatal care received and the factors influencing thereof. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the three zones of Sarawak. Women age...

BACKGROUND In Ethiopia, the levels of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are among the highest in the world. This is attributed to, among other factors, none use of modern health care services by women in Ethiopia. According to the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey, more than seven in ten mothers did not receive antenatal care at all. Therefore, the objective of this study was t...

OBJECTIVE Maternal antenatal depression and anxiety are associated with increased risk of childhood behavioural and emotional problems in offspring; it remains unclear to what extent this is due to a maternal biological impact on foetal development. Here, we compare associations between maternal and paternal antenatal depression and anxiety with offspring anxiety disorders, thus controlling for...

Wybo Dondorp*,1, Guido de Wert1, Yvonne Bombard2, Diana W Bianchi3, Carsten Bergmann4,5, Pascal Borry6, Lyn S Chitty7, Florence Fellmann8, Francesca Forzano9, Alison Hall10, Lidewij Henneman11, Heidi C Howard12, Anneke Lucassen13, Kelly Ormond14, Borut Peterlin15, Dragica Radojkovic16, Wolf Rogowski17, Maria Soller18, Aad Tibben19, Lisbeth Tranebjærg20,21,22, Carla G van El11 and Martina C Corn...

We used qualitative methods to assess pregnant women and men's attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions to male partners' involvement in antenatal clinic (ANC) in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. The aims of these studies were to determine barriers to male partners' attendance of ANC with their pregnant female partners and to identify possible strategies to overcome these ba...