Focused antenatal care: Re-appraisal of current practices

Focused antenatal care has been viewed to be a better option to the previously existing orthodox model of antenatal care. The orthodox antenatal care otherwise known as traditional model of antenatal care requires a number of routine and frequent visits by pregnant women to the healthcare facility. This traditional model of antenatal care has been observed to require numerous materials such as financial and human resources for its continuous implementation. The   observable cumbersome nature of the traditional model necessitates the recent exploration of alternative model of antenatal care referred to as focused antenatal care (FANC) model. The FANC model emanated during the era of evidenced based practice and evidence based approach to care. Evidence-based ensures that the care rendered  are based on previous outcomes of care and are focused on what can be achieved during  the less regular but specific visit, which is characterized by being client friendly with reduced cost of implementation. Despite this importance of FANC, antenatal care continues to be centered around clinical assessment, and regular attendance at the clinic. Thus, the objective of this paper is to review the traditional care model and the focused antenatal care model because antenatal care remains a mixture of both art and science, and to re-appraise current antenatal practices. Key words: Focused antenatal care, pregnancy, clinical assessment.