Table 1.
Antenatal care coverage, quality, and inequalities in 91 low-income and middle-income countries by income group
| Global (n=91) | Low income (n=30) | Lower-middle income (n=35) | Upper-middle income (n=26) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | |||||
| Antenatal care coverage* | 89·7% (88·0–91·4) | 86·6% (83·4–89·7) | 87·8% (84·4–91·2) | 96·1% (95·2–97·0) | |
| Quality | |||||
| Antenatal care quality† | 72·9% (69·1–76·8) | 53·8% (44·3–63·3) | 74·8% (68·6–80·9) | 93·3% (91·4–95·2) | |
| Blood pressure measured | 91·7% (90·7–92·7) | 84·9% (81·7–88·2) | 93·3% (91·9–94·8) | 98·2% (97·8–98·7) | |
| Blood sample taken | 82·0% (79·6–84·4) | 71·8% (64·6–79·0) | 81·1% (77·2–85·0) | 96·0% (94·7–97·3) | |
| Urine sample taken | 77·9% (75·0–80·9) | 62·3% (52·6–71·9) | 80·4% (76·9–84·0) | 94·6% (92·8–96·4) | |
| Inequalities in antenatal care quality‡ | |||||
| SII | 0·27 (0·23–0·30) | 0·38 (0·31–0·44) | 0·30 (0·21–0·39) | 0·09 (0·06–0·12) | |
| RII | 4·01 (3·90–4·13) | 9·63 (8·10–11·45) | 5·30 (4·83–5·81) | 3·01 (2·93–3·10) | |
Data are mean (95% CI). Estimates are pooled across countries and income groups using inverse-variance-weighted random-effects meta-analysis. I2 >90% in all analyses. SII=slope index of inequality. RII=relative index of inequality.
Antenatal care coverage is defined as the proportion of women with at least one livebirth in the past 2 or 5 years who had at least one visit with a skilled provider.
Antenatal care quality is defined as the proportion of women who report blood pressure monitoring and urine and blood testing at any point during the pregnancy among those who had at least one visit with a skilled provider.
An SII value of 0·27 indicates that the proportion of women who report good quality care is 27 percentage points higher on average at the top of the wealth distribution compared with the bottom. An RII value of 4·01 indicates that the wealthiest women are on average four times more likely to report god quality care than the poorest.