Crystal L. Patil|Elizabeth T. Abrams|Carrie Klima|Chrissie P.N. Kaponda|Sebalda Leshabari|Susan C. Vonderheid|Martha Kamanga|Kathleen F. Norr
CenteringPregnancy-Africa: A pilot of group antenatal care to address Millennium Development Goals
University of Illinois at Chicago|Film Independent|University of Illinois at Chicago|Kamuzu Central Hospital|Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences|University of Illinois at Chicago|Kamuzu Central Hospital|University of Illinois at Chicago|University of Illinois at Chicago
severe health worker shortages resource limitations negatively affect quality antenatal care anc throughout subsaharan africa group anc specifically centeringpregnancy cp may offer innovative approach enable midwives offer higher quality ancour overarching goal prepare conduct clinical trial centeringpregnancyafrica cpafrica malawi tanzania phase 1 goal determine acceptability cp model anc countries phase 2 objective develop cpafrica session content consistent essential elements cp model national standards malawi tanzania phase 3 objective pilot cpafrica malawi determine whether sessions could conducted fidelity centering processphases 1 2 took place malawi tanzania phase 3 piloting two sessions cpafrica occurred two sites malawi district hospital small clinicwe used action research approach promote partnerships among university researchers centering healthcare institute health care administrators health professionals women attending anc develop cpafrica session content pilot model group ancfor phases 1 2 members ministries health health professionals pregnant women malawi tanzania introduced interviewed cp phase 2 finalised cpafrica content trained 13 health professionals centering healthcare model phase 3 conducted small pilot 24 pregnant women 12 siteparticipants enthusiastically embraced cpafrica acceptable model anc health care delivery cpafrica content met cp national standards pilot established cp model could implemented process fidelity 13 essential elements several implementation challenges strategies address challenges identifiedpreliminary data suggest cpafrica feasible resourceconstrained lowliteracy highhiv settings subsaharan africa improving quality anc delivery midwives opportunity make contribution towards millennium development goals mdg targeting improvements child maternal hivrelated health outcomes mdgs 4 5 6 clinical trial needed establish efficacycpafrica also potential reduce jobrelated stress enhance job satisfaction midwives low income countries cp transferred fidelity process subsaharan africa retain similar results reported clinical trials potential benefit pregnant women infants could make positive contribution mgds 4 5 6