[Survey on the situation of antenatal care in different regions of China, in 1971 - 2003].

Objective: To comprehensively understand the situation of antenatal care in the last thirty years and to identify the existing problems and challenges.

Methods: PPS method was used to select those women under study and face to face interview was carried out at the house.

Results: The quality and coverage rate of antenatal care as well as the rate of hospital delivery had been continuously increasing over time and the coverage rate of antenatal checkup had increased from 38.7% in 1970s to 95.9%, while the institutional delivery rose from 20.1% to 87.4% in the last three years. However, problems and challenges were found refering to the of delay first antenatal care, inadequate timing and with incomplete contents. Only 71.7% of the pregnant women had received first checkup during the first three months. 64.1% of the women received 5 times or more of the checkups while only 29.1% of the women had received all the 7 basic checkup items. Rate of hospital delivery was unsatisfactory that most (79.5%) of the women had the delivery not in the hospitals when under the assistance of midwife/village doctors. Indicators showed that the worst was in the western regions.

Conclusion: Great progress had been made in the field of antenatal care in last thirty yeats in China. The coverage rate of antenatal checkup and institutional delivery had been improved. But the quality of antenatal care should be further improved, especially in the western regions.