Table 1.

The characteristics of studies included to study maternal health care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A scoping Review.

Author and year	Study area	Source of the data	Study design	Sample size		Findings related to the review %			Recommendations of the study	Limitations of the study
						Any or ANC4+	ANC4+ and SBA	ANC4+, SBA &PNC /CoC
Wang and Hong17	Cambodia	Secondary: CDHS 2010	Cross-sectional	6472		90	71	60	Quality of ANC connected to SBAs and PNC	Using 48 h after delivery as the cutoff
Yeji et al18	Ghana	Primary	Cross-sectional	1500		86	NI	8	Other designs	CoC is measured based on women’s recall response
Akinyemi et al19	Nigeria	Secondary: NDHS 2013	Cross-sectional	20 467		[Any] 60.6	22.5	11.4	Further studies to fully understand why women do not complete the CoC	Reasons for dropout between delivery and sixth week of PNC as such data not collected in NDHS
Iqbal et al20	Pakistan	Secondary: PDHS	CB cross sectional	5724 for 2006/7		28	20	15	No causal relationships displayed because of nature of the design used	Lack of uniformity in variables, the information is based on self-reports and may be biased
				7461 for 2012/13		38	32	27
Singh et al21	The nine MCH priority countries for USAID		Cross-sectional	18 036	Nine countries	37.9	28.3	16.9	Better future studies focus on which geographic or administrative areas need the most focus	Not possible to study the quality of services, Study designs was subject to recall bias
					S. Asian	38.8	29.2	24.5
					SSA	37.5	28.0	13.9
Mohan et al22	Tanzania	Primary	Cross-sectional	1931		66.5	65	10.3	The status of CoC for MNCH services in a non-project setting	Not account for content delivered or quality of the content delivered and design
Tamang23	Nepal	Secondary: NMICS 2014	Cross sectional	2048		NI	53.1	45.7	In-depth exploration of the barriers and community perceptions
Hamed et al24	Egypt	Primary	Cross-sectional	2790		90	85	50.4	The information is based on self-reports	Study populations are rural women
Kikuchi et al25	Cambodia	Primary	Cross-sectional	377		32.6	19.1	5	Interventions or longitudinal studies	Selection bias, recall bias
CSA and ICF et al26 (Unpublished)	Ethiopian	Primary	CB cross sectional	1281		39.9	31.1	12.1	Improving early initiation and quality of ANC	Prone to recall bias as the data collected retrospectively
Chaka et al27	Ethiopia	Secondary: EDHS 2016	CB cross sectional	1342		31.8	NI	9.1	Tracking the progress and factors influence completion of the CoC	Who died due to childbirth related complications were not included and recall bias
Sakuma et al28	Lao PDR	Primary	CB cross sectional	263		54.4	30.4	6.8	Promotion of early ANC and family [male] involvement	Deceased women were not included, information and recall bias
Dereje et al (Unpublished) 29	Ethiopia	Secondary: AMHDS	CB cross sectional	438		25.2	18.5	9.7	Early booking during antenatal period	Social desirability bias, selection bias, recall bias

Abbreviations: AMHDS, Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance; CB, Community based; EDHS, Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey; Lao PDR, Lao People’s Democratic Republic: one of East Asia’s poorest; NI, Not indicated; NMICS, Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey; SBA, skilled birth attendance; The 9 MCH priority countries for USAID: Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda.