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Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic affected access to antenatal care in low and middle-income countries where anaemia in pregnancy is prevalent. We analyse how health workers provided antenatal care and the factors affecting access to antenatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kapilvastu district in the west...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10124848/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37093841 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284796 |
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author | Thapaliya, Bibhu Yadav, Samata Kumari Bhattarai, Sanju Giri, Santosh Sapkota, Suprich Arjyal, Abriti Harris-Fry, Helen Saville, Naomi Hillman, Sara Baral, Sushil Morrison, Joanna |
author_facet | Thapaliya, Bibhu Yadav, Samata Kumari Bhattarai, Sanju Giri, Santosh Sapkota, Suprich Arjyal, Abriti Harris-Fry, Helen Saville, Naomi Hillman, Sara Baral, Sushil Morrison, Joanna |
author_sort | Thapaliya, Bibhu |
collection | PubMed |
description | The COVID-19 pandemic affected access to antenatal care in low and middle-income countries where anaemia in pregnancy is prevalent. We analyse how health workers provided antenatal care and the factors affecting access to antenatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kapilvastu district in the western plains of Nepal. We used qualitative and quantitative methodologies, conducting eight semi-structured interviews with health workers who provided antenatal care during the pandemic, and a questionnaire containing open and closed questions with 52 female community health volunteers. Antenatal care was severely disrupted during the pandemic. Health workers had to find ways to provide care with insufficient personal protective equipment and guidance whilst facing extreme levels of stigmatisation which prevented them from providing outreach services. Pregnant women were fearful or unable to visit health institutions during the pandemic because of COVID-19 control measures. Pre-pandemic and during the pandemic health workers tried to contact pregnant and postpartum women and families over the phone, but this was challenging because of limited access to phones, and required pregnant women to make at least one antenatal care visit to give their phone number. The pandemic prevented new pregnancies from being registered, and therefore the possibilities to provide services over the phone for these pregnancies were limited. To reach the most marginalised during a pandemic or other health emergency, health volunteers and households need to exchange phone numbers, enabling proactive monitoring and care-seeking. Strengthening procurement and coordination between the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government is needed to ensure adequacy of antenatal supplies, such as iron folic acid tablets, in health emergencies. Community engagement is important to ensure women and families are aware of the need to access antenatal care and iron folic acid, and to address stigmatisation of health workers. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10124848 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101248482023-04-25 Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic Thapaliya, Bibhu Yadav, Samata Kumari Bhattarai, Sanju Giri, Santosh Sapkota, Suprich Arjyal, Abriti Harris-Fry, Helen Saville, Naomi Hillman, Sara Baral, Sushil Morrison, Joanna PLoS One Research Article The COVID-19 pandemic affected access to antenatal care in low and middle-income countries where anaemia in pregnancy is prevalent. We analyse how health workers provided antenatal care and the factors affecting access to antenatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kapilvastu district in the western plains of Nepal. We used qualitative and quantitative methodologies, conducting eight semi-structured interviews with health workers who provided antenatal care during the pandemic, and a questionnaire containing open and closed questions with 52 female community health volunteers. Antenatal care was severely disrupted during the pandemic. Health workers had to find ways to provide care with insufficient personal protective equipment and guidance whilst facing extreme levels of stigmatisation which prevented them from providing outreach services. Pregnant women were fearful or unable to visit health institutions during the pandemic because of COVID-19 control measures. Pre-pandemic and during the pandemic health workers tried to contact pregnant and postpartum women and families over the phone, but this was challenging because of limited access to phones, and required pregnant women to make at least one antenatal care visit to give their phone number. The pandemic prevented new pregnancies from being registered, and therefore the possibilities to provide services over the phone for these pregnancies were limited. To reach the most marginalised during a pandemic or other health emergency, health volunteers and households need to exchange phone numbers, enabling proactive monitoring and care-seeking. Strengthening procurement and coordination between the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government is needed to ensure adequacy of antenatal supplies, such as iron folic acid tablets, in health emergencies. Community engagement is important to ensure women and families are aware of the need to access antenatal care and iron folic acid, and to address stigmatisation of health workers. Public Library of Science 2023-04-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10124848/ /pubmed/37093841 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284796 Text en © 2023 Thapaliya et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Thapaliya, Bibhu Yadav, Samata Kumari Bhattarai, Sanju Giri, Santosh Sapkota, Suprich Arjyal, Abriti Harris-Fry, Helen Saville, Naomi Hillman, Sara Baral, Sushil Morrison, Joanna Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic |
title | Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic |
title_full | Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic |
title_fullStr | Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic |
title_short | Health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic |
title_sort | health worker perspectives on access to antenatal care in rural plains nepal during the covid-19 pandemic |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10124848/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37093841 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284796 |
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