A STUDY OF THE USE OF THE NICARAGUAN ANTENATAL CARD

The present study describes the use of a home-based antenatal card in a sample of 120 consecutive women who were giving birth at a large tea ching hospital in the city of Leon, Nicaragua. Information was obtaine d by interviews with the women before leaving hospital and all data on their antenatal cards and regarding delivery outcome were analysed. A ntenatal care attendance by the 120 women was 93 per cent, and 86 per cent had received an antenatal card. However, only in 33 per cent of t he cases had the card been adequately used: inappropriate handling in hospital was the commonest cause of non-use. Suggestions for a revisio n of the card are presented in the companion article, in which we also stress the importance of continuous training of the health personnel.