Maternal and Child Health Care

MCH clinics should be established (ideally one MCH clinic per 5,000 population) and staffed by trained personnel to provide routine screening and preventive, and curative services to pregnant and lactating women and to children less than 2 years of age. If resources are adequate, these services should be extended to children between 2 and 5 years of age. Services for children should include routine growth monitoring, immunization, nutritional rehabilitation, vitamin A supplementation, and curative care, as well as health education for their mothers.

Female health workers should be trained and employed to provide culturally appropriate health education both at MCH clinics and within the community, and to refer pregnant women to the clinic for antenatal care. At least some of these health workers should be recruited from among traditional birth attendants in the community. Antenatal care should include screening for high-risk pregnancies and providing iron and folic acid supplementation (as well as iodine supplementation in areas of endemic goiter), tetanus toxoid immunization, and health education. Postnatal care should include nutritional supplementation, counselling on family spacing, provision of contraceptives, and education about breastfeeding and infant care. In certain cultural situations, curative care may need to be provided to all women of child-bearing age in a setting physically segregated from male outpatient facilities.


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