EXAMINING EQUITY IN THE COMPONENTS AND UTILIZATION OF ANTENATAL CARE IN JORDAN

Abstract

Background: Antenatal care has always been a basic element of routine child and maternal health services. It is considered an important phase in the woman’s pregnancy to prevent pregnancy related complications. Recently, there has been a shift from measuring ANC utilization to measuring content of care provided during ANC visits.

Objective: 1) Describe the variations in ANC utilization, based on the old and new WHO recommendations, and content of care over time in Jordan. 2) Examine the determinants of the number of ANC visits and the components of care received during ANC visits in Jordan.

Methods: The Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Jordan in 1990, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 were used to look at ANC trends and components of care. For every time period, a regression model was used to assess the association between content of care, utilization of care and each of the main independent variables.

Results: Women in Jordan had a very high mean number of ANC visits well within the new WHO guidelines. However, certain components of care including tetanus injections were received by a low percentage of women during ANC visits such as tetanus injections. Variations existed between different regions, education levels, wealth categories, age groups, nationalities and the place of which ANC visits happened.

Conclusion: Given the variations in ANC coverage between different groups, more effort should be made and further research is needed to examine the quality of ANC services that are given to the pregnant woman.