The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #38372

Grace Sinyangwe, RM¹, Genevieve Khulu Mwale, MSc², Uttara Bharath, MHS¹, and Richard S. Hughes, MA². (1) Zambia Integrated Health Program/MNH-Zambia, JHU Center for Communications Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, (2) Zambia Country Office, JHPIEGO Corporation, 1615 Thames Street, Baltimore, MD 21231, 011-260-1-254555, graces@zihp.org.zm

Zambia has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world – 649/100,000 at the last DHS (1996). Numerous studies of maternal health services have shown that a primary weakness is in the quality of antenatal care, and counseling in particular. Since antenatal clinic attendance is high (over 90%), this is an opportunity to reach many women. To address this shortcoming, and also to introduce new information and updates (e.g., refocused antenatal care schedule, intermittent presumptive treatment of pregnant women for malaria), Zambia developed a Maternity Counseling Kit (MCK) to educate providers and to standardize the services and information provided to clients during antenatal visits. The MCK is a clinic-based tool to help health workers provide quality antenatal counseling and services. It contains standardized guidance on how to provide antenatal care and counseling along with technical information on key topics. The MCK builds on the successful development and implementation of a similar Family Planning Counseling Kit. The impact of this intervention is expected to improve the quality of antenatal services in Zambia and lead to improvements in pregnancy outcomes. This will come through improving the antenatal services provided (e.g., micronutrient supplementation, IPT for malaria, birth planning) as well as ensuring that correct and complete information is effectively conveyed to the client (e.g., maternal nutrition, encouragement of voluntary counseling and testing, HIV prevention, STDs, birth preparedness, danger signs, malaria in pregnancy, breast feeding and breast care).

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to

• describe the design and content of the maternity counseling kit developed in Zambia;
• articulate the advantages of such a job aid in improving provider practices; and
• formulate plans for using these materials and similar approaches in other countries or situations

Keywords: Maternal Health, Counseling

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.