Question

• What issues (e.g., social determinants of health, cultural, etc.) would affect a woman’s ability to access quality prenatal care?
• How could this impact her health and/or the health of her child?

Answer 1

Question: What issues would affect a woman's ability to access quality prenatal care?

Answer:

Definition of prenatal care: It is also known as antenatal care and it is a preventive health care aim to assist women to remain healthy, by treating and preventing potential health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy and to promote healthy lifestyles that benefit both mother and unborn. Antenatal care also provide guidance to the woman and her partner or family, to help them in their transition to parenthood.

Issues or Barriers affecting prenatal care accesss:

1. Financial Barriers:

Pregnancy and childbirth can be a great financial burden. It is therefore not surprising that financial status, and health insurance coverage in particular, plays a major role in determining whether or not prenatal care is secured. Lack of money is is the most important barrier for insufficient prenatal care. Poor women with no insurance face significant obstacles to obtain prenatal care.

2. Inadequate System Capacity:

Inadequate capacity in the maternity care system often used by low-income women constitutes a second barrier to use of prenatal care. Women with limited financial resources, especially women with neither public nor private health insurance, frequently seek prenatal care in so-called "organized settings," as distinct from private physicians in office-based practices. Inadequate capacity of these clinics is another reason for lack of prenatal care.

3. Problems in the organization, practices, and atmosphere of prenatal services themselves

Although the financial and capacity problems are common barriers to prenatal care, use can also be limited by the way services are organized and provided at local level. They stem from inadequate coordination among services, problems in securing insurance coverage, and such classic access problems as transportation difficulties and  inhospitable provider practices. Other barriers related to aspects of service provision are caregiver qualities like lack of time and  negative behaviors

4. Cultural and personal factors

Several psychosocial, attitudinal, economic and structural barriers increased the likelihood of inadequate prenatal care for women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The existing children and childcare,  familial needs and desires,,  partner characteristics, and significant others’ beliefs about pregnancy and health , knowledge about pregnancy and chilcare are also some of the factors affecting prenatal care.

Question: How could this impact her health and/or the health of her child?

Answer:

Prenatal care can help prevent complications and inform women about important steps they can take to protect their infant and ensure a healthy pregnancy. With regular prenatal care women can reduce the risk of pregnancy complications.

The deprivation of prenatal care can lead to:

1. Premature pregnancy,

2. Intrauterine growth retardation,

3. Low weight at birth,

4. Maternal and child mortality as a result of infections in the perinatal and postnatal periods.

Women without prenatal care are seven times more likely give birth to premature babies, and five times more likely to have infants who die.