TY - JOUR ID - TI - Evaluation of the Quality of Maternal Health Services in Primary Health‑Care Centers by Using Service Provision Assessment AU - Wedyan Ibrahim Ismael, Hadeel Fadhil Farhood PY - 2019 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 25 EP - 30 JO - Medical Journal of Babylon مجلة بابل الطبية SN - 1812156X 23126760 AB - Background: The Service Provision Assessment (SPA) survey is a nationwide facility‑based survey that measures the ability of health facilitiesto provide quality preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services for key maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS programs. Objective: Thestudy was designed to assess some aspects of expressed maternal health services provided at ten primary health‑care (PHC) centers inBabylon province, Iraq, using interviews with health service providers and clients and observations of provider–client consultations to obtaininformation on the capacity of facilities to provide quality services, and the existence of functioning systems to support quality services.Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional study was done in ten Babylon PHC centers from March to August 2018. The study included165 pregnant women. The questionnaire included sociodemographic factors (age, residence, employment, parity, and education) and datarelated to Service Provision Assessment questionnaire which include a facility inventory, client exit interviews, and antenatal care (ANC)observation and consultation. Results: The mean age of pregnant women attending ANC was 25.29 ± 5.48, 66.1% came from urban areas,the majority were not employed (83%), their educational level was secondary (38.8%), and 57% were multipara. The findings showed that themajority (89.1%) of patients think that health facility services were good. A sizeable majority (83.0%) of women were satisfied regarding healthservices including availability of medicines at the facility (91.5%), cleanliness of the facility (100%), privacy (93.9%), charging or paymentof fees for services received (0.6%), and discussion of problems related to the pregnancy (93.3%). Conclusion: This study showed a highlevel of satisfaction with the quality of maternal health services among antenatal attendees and highlighted the need to support interventionsthat increase the uptake of formal maternal health‑care services.

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