The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Antenatal Visits and Routine Examinations in Paleteang District of Pinrang Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Maternal and child health care has been a big challenge in Indonesia. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable restrictions to maternal and newborn healthcare services. Consequently, community health services faced changes in policies such as limiting antenatal care visits, which resulted in irregular health examination for pregnant women. Therefore, this study aims to examine the frequency of the village midwives’ house visits during the COVID-19 pandemic and the appropriate routine examination of pregnant women. This is an observational study conducted from March to late October 2020. Data were collected in Pinrang sub-district of South Sulawesi using cluster random sampling targeted at pregnant women in six villages. The Chi square test was used to identify possible association between both variables. Out of the 63 pregnant women who participated in this study, more than 54% reported to have been visited and received medical examinations. The results shows that there is a significant relationship between the number of visits and appropriate examination with p value 0.04 and potential risk OR 4.860 (95% CI: 0.956 to 24.703). The village midwives’ visitation frequency was quite high during the COVID-19 but a potential risk was recorded for pregnant women who had incomplete routine examination. Therefore, there is need for collaborative effort between the local government and related sectors to improve maternal home health care services.