Importantly, although the indicator for ‘at least one visit’ refers to visits with skilled health providers (doctor, nurse or midwife), ‘four or more visits’ refers to visits with any provider, since standardized global national-level household survey programmes do not collect provider data for each visit. Receiving antenatal care at least four times, which is recommended by WHO, increases the likelihood of receiving effective maternal health interventions during antenatal visits. Receiving antenatal care during pregnancy does not guarantee the receipt of interventions that are effective in improving maternal health.

blood testing to detect syphilis and severe anaemia.

urine testing for bacteriuria and proteinuria.

WHO guidelines are specific on the content of antenatal care visits, which should include: WHO recommends a minimum of four antenatal visits based on a review of the effectiveness of different models of antenatal care. Available survey data on this indicator usually do not specify the type of the provider therefore, in general, receipt of care by any provider is measured.Īntenatal visits present opportunities for reaching pregnant women with interventions that may be vital to their health and well-being and that of their infants. Both trained and untrained traditional birth attendants are excluded.Īntenatal care coverage (at least four visits) is the percentage of women aged 15 to 49 with a live birth in a given time period that received antenatal care four or more times. Skilled health personnel refers to workers/attendants that are accredited health professionals – such as a midwife, doctor or nurse – who have been educated and trained to proficiency in the skills needed to manage normal (uncomplicated) pregnancies, childbirth and the immediate postnatal period, and in the identification, management and referral of complications in women and newborns. Notes on the data Definition of indicatorsĪntenatal care coverage (at least one visit) is the percentage of women aged 15 to 49 with a live birth in a given time period that received antenatal care provided by skilled health personnel (doctor, nurse or midwife) at least once during pregnancy. WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank, Trends in Maternal Mortality: 2000 to 2017, WHO, Geneva, 2019. UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2021, UNICEF, New York, 2021. World Health Organization, 2016, WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience 2016.

UNICEF, 2019, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies: Taking stock of maternal health, New York 2019. In addition, antenatal care coverage increases with wealth, with those in the richest quintile being twice as likely to receive at least four antenatal care visits than those in the poorest quintile, with a wealth gap of 34 percentage points (77 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively). Women living in urban areas are more likely to receive at least four antenatal care visits than those living in rural areas, with an urban-rural gap of 22 percentage points (78 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively). Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunhaĭespite progress being made, large regional and global disparities in women receiving at least four antenatal care visits are observed by residence and wealth. China, Hong Kong Special Administrative RegionĬhina, Macao Special Administrative Region

Average number of prenatal visits