TITLE:
Evaluation of the Quality of Antenatal Care (ANC) Service at Higher 2 Health Center in Jimma, South West Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Tirsit Mehari Abate, Waju Beyene Salgedo, Negalign Berhanu Bayou
KEYWORDS:
ANC, Jimma, Ethiopia
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.2 No.4,
April
14,
2015
ABSTRACT: Background:
Antenatal care is the care that women receive during pregnancy to ensure a
healthy outcome for women and newborns. In spite of its clear importance, such
services continued to be important determinants of maternal mortality and
morbidity throughout the world. Methods: A case study was conducted in
Higher 2 Town Health Center, using client exit interviews of 265 clients who came
to the health institution. In addition, 10 observations of client-provider
interactions, document reviews of 246 clients’ documents selected by systematic
random sampling technique, and 5 in-depth interviews of the focal persons were
conducted. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS for windows (SPSS 16.0).
Qualitative data were categorized into major thematic areas and presented as
narratives in triangulation with the quantitative results. In each evaluation
dimension, indicators were used to judge the quality of antenatal care services. Results: Most of the minimum required basic resources recommended by
World Health Organization were available in the study site. But there were
incomplete sets of laboratory reagents and shortage of some drugs.
Comprehensive history was recorded for 93.4% of clients. Only 34.3% of clients
received prescriptions for iron supplementation. Majority (94.6%) of the
clients were satisfied with the accommodations of antenatal care service. The
compliance of the health care providers towards routine laboratory
investigations ranged from 25.4% to 50.1%. Conclusions: The overall
quality of the service was judged as fair (69.5%). Majority of the clients were
satisfied with accommodation of ANC services. However, the availability of
laboratory reagents and drugs remained to be challenges. Providers’ compliance
towards standard basic investigations was also far below World Health
Organization recommendations and judged as critical. Thus it is recommended that
responsible bodies should strive to improve provision of supplies and
compliance of the care providers to step-up the quality of care at president
capacity level.