| Recall and validity |
• Uncertainty about mother's knowledge about what happened to baby after birth, especially for facility births• Lack of recall of past births up to five years prior to survey• Potential misunderstanding of survey questions on postnatal care |
• Formative research indicates that women have a good idea what happens to their baby regardless of where they deliver• DHS and MICS questionnaires revised to include postnatal care for all newborns, regardless of place of birth• Formative research indicates that women have difficulty understanding the term “postnatal care"• DHS and MICS questionnaires revised to include an introductory statement for postnatal care questions• Standard tables in DHS and MICS updated to include postnatal care coverage for newborns |
• Review data from new DHS and MICS questionnaires and revise tools as needed |
| Timing |
• Lack of criteria to distinguish between intrapartum and postnatal care, e.g., should all contacts from birth count, or is postnatal care valid only if it takes place after the intrapartum period• Potential overestimation of true postnatal contacts |
• Detailed postnatal care module developed and tested for MICS• Distinct measurement of the first pre-discharge and first post-discharge contact in MICS |
• WHO recommendation to define postnatal contact (e.g., a cutoff of one hour after birth)• Formative research to differentiate intrapartum and postnatal care• Implementation research on facility pre-discharge checklist, etc. |
| Number of visits |
• Only the first postnatal contact captured in DHS and MICS surveys, and may be an intrapartum contact but no further question asked• Lack of ability to capture pre-discharge postnatal care more accurately• Lack of data on home or clinic postnatal contacts after facility births |
• Detailed postnatal care module developed and tested for MICS• Distinct measurement of the first pre-discharge and first post-discharge contact in MICS• No information captured on subsequent postnatal contacts |
• Capture additional visits in optional module or specialized surveys |
| Content |
• Data not currently collected in national surveys |
• Formative research indicates women could recall specific actions for newborns during postnatal care (such as use of equipment, undressing baby, giving advice)• Consensus on five measureable signal functions for postnatal care for newborns |
• Work with maternal health community on signal functions for postnatal care for women• WHO meeting to define postnatal care interventions for women and newborns• Test household survey module for content of postnatal care for newborns and women |
