Quality of antenatal and delivery care and postnatal care use: A multi-country observational study of 400,000 births

by Jan E. Cooper, Hwa-Young Lee, Katherine Wright, Prashant Jaryan, Margaret E.

Kruk Background Postnatal care (PNC) plays a crucial role in averting newborn mortality, yet its use remains low, particularly in regions with the highest mortality. While demographic and social determinants of PNC use have been well studied and have informed current strategies focused on changing care-seeking behaviors, the stagnating decline in neonatal mortality highlights the need for upstream and system-wide approaches to increase PNC uptake.

Limited evidence exists to guide system-level reforms; therefore, we investigated whether health systems that ensure high-quality perinatal care are associated with increased use of PNC. Methods and findings We performed a cross-sectional observational study using Demographic and Health Survey data from 38 countries that had not met SDG neonatal mortality targets by 2020.

The study population comprised women aged 15–49 years whose most recent live birth occurred within five years preceding the survey.