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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Prenatal care and childbirth weight in Uganda and Tanzania
Authors:Bbaale, Edward
Buyinza, Faisal
Year:2012
Periodical:The Ugandan Journal of Management and Public Policy Studies (ISSN 2078-7049)
Volume:4
Issue:1
Pages:46-66
Language:English
Geographic terms:Uganda
Tanzania
Subjects:child health
maternal and child health care
pregnancy
health education
Abstract:About 20 million (17%) children, 95% of which are in less developed countries, are born with low birth weight. Prenatal care is widely accepted as a channel for reducing the hazard of delivering preterm or a low birth weight baby. This study set out to investigate the relationship between prenatal care components and childbirth weight for children born in the five years preceding the survey in Uganda and Tanzania. The key explanatory variables included prenatal visits, prenatal care delay, tetanus immunization, and prenatal care content. The findings reveal that the average childbirth weight is 3,4 kg in Uganda and 3,2 kg in Tanzania. The average number of prenatal care visits is 3.7 and 4.1 for Uganda and Tanzania, respectively. On average, women in the two countries initiate first prenatal visits at about 5 months of pregnancy. On average, Tanzanian women outperformed Ugandan counterparts in the utilization of antenatal care content. Quantitative findings reveal that tetanus immunization, antenatal visits, antenatal care delay, and antenatal care content are significantly associated with childbirth weight. The authors argue that mass dissemination of health information would close knowledge gaps existing amongst prospective mothers concerning the importance of prenatal visits, timing and content. They see a need to standardize the health information disseminated to women across regions and locations in order to ensure that all receive the same reproductive knowledge. Establishment of village outreach clinics with qualified staff would help to attract the hard-to-reach women. App., bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]
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