Antalya consensus on perinatal care: the report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1-5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey.

The goal of antenatal care is to help the mother to maintain her well-being and achieve a healthy outcome for herself and her infant. Education about pregnancy, child-bearing and childrearing is an important part of antenatal care. Because of the perception that pregnancy is a physiologic event, even today lots of women do not seek medical care until a problem occurs during their pregnancy. There are still unacceptable differences in the extent of perinatal problems in developed and developing countries. Over the last century almost all countries have accepted antenatal care principles. However, insufficiency of resources and a lack of women's compliance have proved to be obstacles in developing countries and have compelled the application of various standard programs. Unfortunately, these programs are not sufficiently effective in preventing and treating maternal mortality. A safe pregnancy and delivery is a human right. Maternal mortality and morbidity should not be ranked with other diseases, because child bearing is not a disease. For this reason a global ethical consideration imposes an obligation upon society to avoid these almost totally preventable deaths. Ensuring access to family planning is an important way of decreasing maternal death. Maternal morbidity and mortality as well as perinatal mortality can be reduced through the synergistic effect of combined interventions, without first attaining high levels of economic development. These interventions include: education for all, universal childbirth, access to family planning services, attendance at birth by professional health workers, access to good quality care in case of complications, and policies that raise women's social and economic status and increase their access to property and the labor force.