Pregnant women urged to seek prenatal care

DR Alisha Robb-Allen, acting director of Family Health Services in the Ministry of Health, has clarified statements made by Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton, who reported that in 2015 and 2016, only 8.4 per cent of pregnant women accessed the public health system for prenatal care during the third trimester of their pregnancy. In fact, Dr Robb-Allen says that this figure represents the number of women who seek care at their local health care facilities in their third trimester for the first time in their pregnancy.

“The first two trimesters —zero to 15 weeks and 15 to 28 weeks — see approximately 92 per cent of mothers accessing care at the facility as their first visit. These mothers continue to be followed throughout their pregnancies at the health centres. However, the remaining 8 to 8.4 per cent of first visits occur in the third trimester (greater than 28 weeks) of pregnancy,” Dr Robb-Allen said.“The aim of the Ministry of Health is that all pregnant mothers [should] have at least four antenatal visits throughout the duration of each pregnancy. Women who attend the health centres for the first visit in the third trimester (greater than 28 weeks of pregnancy) may not achieve this number of visits.”She added: “The aim of the Ministry of Health is to have first visits in the third trimester below five per cent. In fact, our aim is to have this at zero per cent, and while we know this may never be possible, we want to bring the figure as close to zero as possible.”Of note is that women also access care at private facilities. Dr Robb-Allen acknowledges that this could have been one of the contributors to the high figures reported.“The reasons could include the health-seeking behaviour of the individual. The woman may not necessarily be big on doctor’s visits; the woman may have had a child or children before, and decides that she doesn’t need the assistance of health care professionals as she never had complications in her previous pregnancies; or she may have been followed by a private practitioner initially, and then closer to her due date opts to seek care in the public domain in preparation for delivery at a public facility,” Dr Robb-Allen explained.With the Government now focused on further reducing this number to less than five per cent, Dr Robb-Allen said that one approach includes a greater focus on what obtains with community health aides.“The community health aides — who are the ‘eyes and ears’ in the community — identify pregnant mothers and encourage them to attend the health centre if they have not yet sought antenatal care. They are in the communities, and so they would know who is pregnant and who needs to access these facilities, and would be able to encourage them to seek care,” Dr Robb-Allen said.Dr Tufton said future plans include continuing to explore public-private partnerships to implement other initiatives geared towards empowering expectant mothers and parents to provide the best care possible for themselves and their children. Plans also include launching another initiative which will motivate expectant mothers to utilise the health centres more by providing them with information and tangible items which will help them to better prepare for the birth of their babies.