The Importance of Early Antenatal Care Visit

The Importance of Early Initiation of First Antenatal Care Visit

Early initiation of the first antenatal care visit is crucial for ensuring optimal health outcomes for women and children. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all pregnant women start antenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy, and that a minimum of eight visits be scheduled, with the first contact taking place during the first trimester. This is because early antenatal care visits offer numerous benefits, such as:

• Screening and tests for genetic and congenital disorders: Early antenatal care can detect and treat these conditions if identified and treated early.
• Folic acid supplementation: Early visits provide the opportunity to give folic acid supplements, which are essential for reducing the risk of neural tube defects.
• Screening and treatment for iron deficiency anaemia and sexually transmitted infections: These conditions can be detected and treated if identified early.
• Capturing non-communicable diseases: Early antenatal care can potentially capture non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, providing guidance on modifiable lifestyle risks such as smoking, alcohol consumption, drug abuse, obesity, malnutrition, and occupational exposures.
• Improving maternal and newborn health: Early antenatal care visits help in improving an extensive range of maternal and newborn health outcomes.

Despite the benefits of early antenatal care visits, many women in sub-Saharan Africa still make their first visits very late, with some studies reporting that up to 83% of pregnant women in Ethiopia initiate their first visits late. This delayed initiation can lead to missed opportunities for the prevention, detection, and treatment of complications, potentially resulting in poor pregnancy outcomes, including perinatal death, stillbirth, early neonatal death, and an increased risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth. It is therefore important to understand the factors associated with late initiation of antenatal care to address this issue. Hanna Gulema and Yemane Berhane. "Timing of First Antenatal Care Visit and its Associated Factors among Pregnant Women Attending Public Health Facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia." 2021. "Early antenatal care visit: a systematic analysis of regional and global estimates." 2017. Hanna Gulema, Getachew Mekonnen, and Mulugeta Wube. "Survival time to first antenatal care visit and its predictors among pregnant women in Ethiopia." 2021. Abebe Kassa and Binyam Tefera. "Time to first antenatal care booking and its determinants among pregnant women in Ethiopia: A survival analysis of recent evidence from EDHS 2019." 2022.