Evaluation of Safe Maternal Indicators among Women of Reproductive Age in Mashhad

Reproductive health is not merely limited to family planning programs, rather it involves devoting broader attention to social conditions that affect a woman's overall health and role in fertility and sexuality. Regarding this, safe motherhood refers to a set of actions and activities that aims to reach a desired level of health for the mother and neonate. Therefore, this study was performed to determine safe motherhood indicators among women of reproductive age.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the safe motherhood indicators of 1,019 pregnant women referring to teaching hospitals in Mashhad, Iran, in 2020. The samples was chosen with convenient Sampling method. The necessary data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire containing demographic and fertility characteristics. The gathered data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 16) using descriptive statistics.

Based on the results, 96% and 33.5% of the subjects referred for prenatal care and preconception care, respectively. It was revealed that 67.8% of the cases used family planning services. The first prenatal visit of 87.7% of women was in the first trimester of pregnancy. It was also found that 58.5% and 33.1% of the subjects underwent natural childbirth and cesarean section, respectively, and 6.1% of pregnancies resulted in abortion.

The results showed that most women did not refer to receive preconception care to be prepared for this period; rather, they refer for prenatal care as soon as the pregnancy occurs. About a third of women do not have a fertility plan; therefore, there is still a gap in the field of healthy reproduction program and preconception care until reaching the desired level. In this respect, it is required to adopt a suitable strategy in this field.