Calculating the number of focused antenatal care check-ups
Women who have good antenatal care during pregnancy are more likely to have safer births and healthier babies. A more efficient and effective approach to providing antenatal care has been developed in recent years. This new approach is called focused antenatal care (FANC). It is a four visit schedule which is recommended for a pregnant woman without major health problems. The schedule of the four focused antenatal visits is as follows:
| A | B |
|---|---|
| First visit | Beyond 16 weeks of pregnancy |
| Second visit | Between 24 and 28 weeks |
| Third visit | Between 30 and 32 weeks |
| Fourth visit | Between 36 and 40 weeks. |
You will learn what to do at each of these focused antenatal check-ups in detail in Study Session 13.
Look back at the answer to Activity 1.1. In that community, how many antenatal visits would you make in one year if you achieved focused antenatal care for every pregnant woman?
You would make 800 antenatal visits (4 visits to each of the 200 pregnant women).
This calculation illustrates how carefully you will need to plan your antenatal care service, if you are going to visit each pregnant woman four times! If you cannot achieve this total, you should visit every pregnant woman at least once, and record the visit as described in the next section.