Antenatal Visit Coverage - One Visit
Indicator Phrasing
English: % of women aged 15 - 49 years who were attended during their last pregnancy that led to a live birth at least once by skilled health personnel
French: % de femmes âgées de 15 à 49 ans qui ont été prises en charge par du personnel médical compétent au moins une fois au cours de leur dernière grossesse
Portuguese: % de mulheres com idades entre 15 e 49 anos atendidas pelo menos uma vez por pessoal de saúde qualificado durante a sua última gravidez resultante num nado-vivo
Czech: % žen ve věku 15 – 49 let, jež byly během posledního těhotenství alespoň jednou vyšetřeny kvalifikovaným zdravotním pracovníkem
What is its purpose?
A range of health problems experienced by pregnant women and their babies can be prevented, detected and treated during antenatal care provided by skilled health personnel (doctor, midwife or a nurse with midwifery skills). The indicator therefore assesses the proportion of women who had at least one antenatal health check provided by skilled health personnel.
How to Collect and Analyse the Required Data
Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of women aged 15 – 49 who in the past 2 years delivered a live child:
RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)
Q1: During this last pregnancy, did anyone check your and your baby’s health?
A1: yes / no
(ask the following question only if the previous answer is YES)
Q2: During this last pregnancy, who checked your and your baby’s health?
(multiple options possible; instruct the data collectors to probe: “Did anyone else check your and your baby’s health?”)
A2:
1) doctor
2) nurse
3) midwife
4) traditional birth assistant
5) community health volunteers
6) other – specify: ……………………
7) does not remember
Calculate the indicator’s value by dividing the number of respondents whose health was checked by skilled health personnel (doctor, nurse, or midwife) by the total number of interviewed respondents (exclude those who did not remember) and multiplying the result by 100.
Electronic questionnaire
Disaggregate by
Disaggregate the data by location (rural/urban; near a health facility/far from a health facility), socio-economic characteristics (wealth quintile, education level) and mother’s age.
Important Comments
1) Use the following two questions to assess whether the respondent is “aged 15 – 49 years and had a live birth in the last 2 years”:
Q: What is your age?
A: specify: ______ / won’t say
Q: In the past two years, did you give a birth to child that was alive when it was born?
A: yes / no / won’t say
2) Skilled health personnel is an accredited health professional - such as a midwife, doctor, nurse or auxiliary nurse/midwife - who has been educated and trained to proficiency in the skills needed to manage uncomplicated pregnancies, childbirth and the immediate postnatal period, and in the identification, management and referral of complications in women and newborns. Traditional birth attendants and community health workers, trained or not, are excluded from the category of skilled health personnel for antenatal care.
3) The two indicators of antenatal care (at least one visit and at least four visits) are based on WHO’s standard questions. While the “one visit” indicator focuses on the quality of care (i.e. care provided by a skilled health professional), the “four visits” indicator focuses on the intensity of care (given by either a skilled or unskilled provider). Since most national surveys do not collect information on type of provider for each visit, WHO does not measure the number of visits provided by skilled health personnel. See more details in WHO’s guidance.
4) The indicator is based on UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) guidance.