This study examines the challenges of analyzing the effects of pregnant mothers visiting hospitals on their newborns during prenatal care in Katsina. Four Katsina public and private hospitals fitted expecting moms with four count models. The Vuong test and likelihood ratio test were used to assess if an over-dispersion parameter was needed. Zero-inflated negative binomial outperformed. The study found that a pregnant mother with a minimum of secondary education and a maximum of a first degree or higher national diploma (HND) while controlling for no formal education, using a private hospital/clinic while keeping a public hospital/clinic constant, affecting number of diagnoses, number of procedures, and number of times a mother gave birth to a fetus with a gestational age of 24 weeks or more, regardless of whether the child was born alive or stillborn were significant
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Antenatal care (ANC) is the care received by pregnant women and adolescent girls delivered by skilful healthcare professionals to safeguard the health conditions of both mother and baby during pregnancy. The health education and promotion, risk identification, prevention and management of pregnancy-related diseases constitute ANC (WHO, 2016). Antenatal care (ANC) includes various services, one of which is screening for medical problems that could be harmful to the expectant mother or her unborn child. One of the objectives of ANC services is to ensure that a healthy and full-term baby is born to a mother who is protected from harm. Pregnancy-related sexually transmitted illnesses can be diagnosed and treated during ANC visits, reducing the risk of transmission from mother to child (Bollini & Quack-Loctscher, 2013; WHO, 2013). Antimalarial and antiretroviral therapy for HIV and AIDS in mothers (Campbell et al., 2006) or tetanus-toxoid-diphtheria (TTD) vaccination, Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp) malaria control, and HIV prevention for mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) could all be included in ANC visits to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity. Malaria infection during pregnancy has been a major public health problem, with substantial risks for the mother, her fetus and the newborn. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends interventions mechanism to prevent and control malaria during pregnancy, these mechanisms are the promotion and use of insecticide-treated nets, appropriate case management with prompt, effective treatment, and, in areas with malaria-endemic areas in Africa, moderate to high transmission of Plasmodium falciparum, administration of intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) is recommended for all pregnant women. Dosing should start in the second trimester, and doses should be given at least one month apart, to ensure that at least three doses are received (WHO, 2016).
Multiple trips to the ANC are necessary to prevent illness (Lincetto et al., 2006). A study indicated that nearly half of the children under the age of five died because of a lack of or insufficiency in antenatal care facilities for treatment to prevent malaria, hepatitis, tetanus, measles, sepsis, pneumonia, and AIDS (Carroli et al., 2001; Chen et al., 2007; Khan et al., 2006; Moss et al., 2002; UNICEF, 2015; Zanconato et al., 2006). At delivery, the newborn's weight is an essential pregnancy outcome that can be classified as low or high (Bird, 2020). Neonatal weight appears to be influenced by the number of ANC visits (Appiah et al., 2020; Celik & Younis, 2007). However, it was unclear if antenatal care visits had a direct impact on birthweight or whether they had an impact on other characteristics connected to the pregnant woman, such as her age or weight. Poor health in underdeveloped countries is largely due to a lack of access to modern health care and a lack of utilization of these treatments (Amin et al., 1989).