This is a study on the acceptance and practices of focused antenatal care by healthcare providers in five
public hospitals the south-west zone of Nigeria. Its goal is to provide a comprehensive and integrated
system of reproductive health care that offers an integrated set of services and within a four visit model.
This research focused primarily on the knowledge of the health care providers including nurses and
doctors, on the new World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative, and aimed to determine how the health
workers can enhance its practice. Of the six hundred validated semi-structured questionnaires
administered in this cross-sectional study 500 were found usable for data analysis. Analysis was carried
out using descriptive statistics. The result showed that 42% of the respondents considered frequent
routine as the norm and that women should be classified by risk category, 52% identified ignorance as
one of the factors affecting focused antenatal care. Furthermore, 66% accepted that focused antenatal
care is not enforced by their healthcare facility as a result of lack of policy concerning the practice of
focused antenatal care. Only 6% of the respondents disagreed that early detection and prevention of
diseases are a major component of focused antenatal care. It was observed that establishing link between
the community and the facility in order to increase utilization of the services offered by the new WHO
package can enhance its practice. In addition, proper supervision by a skilled, trained healthcare
provider will also be effective in enhancing its practice. The package is accepted by the health care
workers but not practiced.
