Percent of pregnant women who receive anthelminthic treatment during pregnancy

Percent of pregnant women who receive anthelminthic treatment during pregnancy

Percent of pregnant women who receive anthelminthic treatment during pregnancy

In areas of moderate to high endemicity of helminths (parasitic worms), the percent of pregnant women who receive presumptive anthelminthic treatment during their pregnancy. According to the 1998 IVACG/WHO/UNICEF “Guidelines for the Use of Iron Supplements to Prevent and Treat Iron Deficiency Anemia,” treatment should be done once in the second and third trimester.

In  areas  of  low  endemicity: the percent of pregnant women who received prescribed treatment during their pregnancy.

This indicator is calculated as:

# of pregnant women who receive presumptive antihelminthic treatment x 100
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Total # of pregnant women

Data Requirement(s):

Information on the number of pregnant women who receive presumptive/prescribed anthelminthic treatment and the total number of pregnant women.

Program records (on number of pregnant women, number of pregnant women who receive treatment, either presumptive treatment or therapy for identified helminths, and number of pregnant women reported to be infected); population-based surveys represent an alternative source of data, but will yield different results in terms of coverage. If the source of data is a population based survey, the evaluator should calculate the indicator for the last pregnancy.

Helminths such as hookworm and schistosomes can cause blood and iron loss.  Where hookwork infection is endemic and anemia prevalence is high, the hookworm infection is likely to be a main cause of the anemia. In areas of low endemicity, treatment in the second trimester is recommended. In areas of moderate to high endemicity, treatment should occur in the second and third trimester. Treatment in the first trimester is not recommended.

This indicator only measures whether women have received any anthelminthic therapy, without reference to adequate dosing. Because treatment of helminths depends on the availability of medication to clients in the program, this indicator may reflect inadequacies in the flow of drugs to service distribution points in the system and/or poor provider performance at the service delivery point.

An alternative indicator reflecting the adequacy of the program in meeting the needs of specific clients is the dosage (number of tablets) distributed per eligible woman.

access, quality, safe motherhood (SM)

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