9 in 10 pregnant women can’t tell danger signs

More than 95% of pregnant woman are unable to identify convulsion as a danger sign in pregnancy, a survey has revealed. The survey among some 1,800 women in Gombe also found less than 10 in 100 women knew blurred vision, high fever and reduced foetal movement were danger signs in pregnancy, when questioned without prompting.But more than 40% were […]

More than 95% of pregnant woman are unable to identify convulsion as a danger sign in pregnancy, a survey has revealed.

The survey among some 1,800 women in Gombe also found less than 10 in 100 women knew blurred vision, high fever and reduced foetal movement were danger signs in pregnancy, when questioned without prompting.
But more than 40% were able to identify severe headache, anaemia, abdominal pain and high blood pressure as constituting dangers in pregnancy.
The report, published by the London School of Tropical Hygiene, linked women’s knowledge to availability of frontline health workers to care for them as well as infrastructure at health facilities and the women’s socioeconomic status.
It noted a “great deal of inequality in both the number of interactions and in the coverage of life-saving interventions for the poorest women when compared to the least poor,” according to Dr Tanya Marchant of the IDEAS team, which carried out the study.
“The majority of women access pregnancy care at least once, but fewer than half have the recommended four visits, and the quality of care received is low when measured at the population level—due to frontline workers not providing adequate counselling as well as facilities not being fully equipped,” she said.
The report, published by the London School of Tropical Hygiene, was presented as baseline findings to guide individual state governments scale up maternal and newborn health care.