University of Technology Reports Findings in Biomedicine (Noncompliance with the WHO’s Recommended Eight Antenatal Care Visits among Pregnant Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multilevel Analysis): Biotechnology – Biomedicine

2021 OCT 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Biotechnology - Biomedicine is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Sydney, Australia, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced a minimum of eight antenatal care (ANC) visits for positive pregnancy outcomes. This study examined the prevalence of noncompliance with 8+ ANCvisits and its associated factors in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).”

Financial support for this research came from MEASURE DHS project.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Technology, “We used data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of eight countries in SSA. A pooled sample of 63,266 pregnant women aged 15-49 years who had given birth to children within 5 years prior to the surveys was included in this study. To examine the factors associated with noncompliance with ANC 8+ visits, multilevel binary logistic regression analysis was conducted, and the results were reported using odds radios at 95% confidence interval (CI). The pooled prevalence of noncompliance with ANC 8+ visits was 92.3% (95% CI: 91.1%-93.3%) with the highest and lowest prevalence in Zambia (98.7%, 95% CI: 98.3%-99.1%) and Libya (73.4%, 95% CI: 70.4%-76.2%), respectively. With the individual level factors, women’s age (44-49 years-aOR = 0.33, 9% CI: 0.14-0.78), health insurance registration, (yes-aOR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.29-0.98), and economic status (richest-aOR = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.05-0.49) were negatively associated with noncompliance with 8+ ANC visits, while parity (five or more children-aOR = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.12-2.52) was positively associated with noncompliance with 8+ ANC visit. With the community level factors, community level literacy was negatively associated with noncompliance with 8+ ANC visit (high-aOR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.32-0.99). About eight out of ten pregnant women did not comply with the WHO’s recommended minimum of eight ANC visits for positive pregnancy outcomes in SSA.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Empowering the economic status of women , enhancing health insurance and education coverage, and giving more attention to young pregnant women and those with more children are crucial for improving the coverage of ANC 8+ visits in the region.”

For more information on this research see: Noncompliance with the WHO’s Recommended Eight Antenatal Care Visits among Pregnant Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multilevel Analysis. BioMed Research International, 2021;2021:1-11. BioMed Research International can be contacted at: Hindawi Ltd, Adam House, 3RD Flr, 1 Fitzroy Sq, London, W1T 5HF, England.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Bright Opoku Ahinkorah, Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research (ACPPHR), Faculty of Health, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Additional authors for this research include Emmanuel Kolawole Odusina, Edward Kwabena Ameyaw, Abdul-Aziz Seidu, Eugene Budu, Betregiorgis Zegeye and Sanni Yaya.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6696829. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal BioMed Research International is: Hindawi Ltd, Adam House, 3RD Flr, 1 Fitzroy Sq, London, W1T 5HF, England.

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