A Peer Support Model for Increasing Participation in Antenatal Care
With funding through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Technical Advice Connect (TAConnect) platform and with technical assistance (TA) from Pathfinder International, 121 health facilities in Nigeria’s Borno State are now offering pregnant women the opportunity to attend group antenatal care (G-ANC). This peer-support approach attracted the participation of more than 17,000 mothers-to-be during its first seven months of implementation, quickly increasing state-wide uptake of antenatal care (ANC) in the first trimester of pregnancy by 28% and improving the likelihood that women will use the full range of services they need for healthy pregnancies. Scaling up G-ANC to all 432 health facilities in Borno has the potential to greatly improve maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) outcomes across the state.
