UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES AMONG WOMEN IN EL-SHIEKH ZAID CITY

Abstract

Introduction: Maternal health care encompasses the health of women in the childbearing years, including those in the pre-pregnancy period, those who are pregnant, and those who are caring for young children. Antenatal care (ANC) may be broadly defined as encompassing pregnancy- related services provided between conception and the onset of labor with the aim of improving pregnancy outcome and/or the health of the mother and child. Aim of work: To measure the utilization of maternal health care services among a sample of Egyptian women in EL-Sheikh Zaid city. Methodology:Descriptive cross- sectional study was done in which 385 women came to receive service from the EL-Sheikh Zaid primary health care center and was pregnant within one year duration; those women were interviewed by a questionnaire about the following topics: A) Socio-demographic data like the age, work, education, husband's age, work and education, and number of children. B) Antenatal care services provided during the last pregnancy like number of visits, laboratory investigations, health education, clinical examination and problems occurred during pregnancy. C) Natal care services provided during the last labor like mode of delivery, complications and place of delivery. D) Postnatal care services provided.Results: Most of the mothers attended the unit for vaccination (65.5%). Most of mothers (81%) received adequate ANC.Only (24%) of mothers had their ANC in the private sector and (34.9%) had their ANC in the primary healthcare unit.Laboratory investigations were done only for (69.9%) of mothers.(80%) of mothers were immunized against Tetanus. The most common health problem occurred during pregnancy was premature contractions, (92.5%) of mothers delivered under supervision of skilled medical team. Only (45.7%) of mothers had postpartum medical counseling. Key words:Maternal healthcare, Antenatal, postnatal, natal, family planning. Conclusions: