Diagnosis of the prenatal care provided by the Family Health Program (FHP) in the city of Corinto, Minas Gerais

Abstract

Throughout the history of Public Health, mother and child care is recognized as a priority. Prenatal care has direct influence upon the mother and child morbidity and mortality coefficients and is a strong indicator of the quality of health care services. The present study aims at formulating a diagnosis of the prenatal care in the city of Corinto/MG, based on the coverage of the population by the teams of the Family Health Program (FHP) and on the data available at the information systems SIAB and SINASC over the period May 2003 to May 2004. The results show a coverage of the population by the FHP teams of 57%, which is below the rate recommended by the Ministry of Health. With regard to prenatal care, there is a percentage of 24,1% of pregnant adolescents - 96,5% of pregnant women were followed up by the health agents, 91,7% received medical care and 86,9% started the prenatal care in the first trimester of the pregnancy. As refers to antitetanic vaccination, the coverage of pregnant women was of 95,2%. The greater part of pregnant women had the ideal number of medical appointments for ensuring good prenatal care (4 to 6 or 7 or more). The assessment of the process of a health program implies in analyzing its functioning and the provided and received care. Thus, for allowing a better adjustment of the care services, not only the activities of the involved professionals must be contemplated but also the activities of the patients searching for and utilizing the offered services. The mother and child morbidity and mortality coefficients can be reduced through policies capable of improving the basic care provided to the population, including especially improvements in prenatal care.