The role of the village midwives in antenatal care services in the Sudan.

A study was conducted to assess the obstetric care coverage provided by the Sudanese village midwives. Mothers and village midwives, from four villages were interviewed using structured questionnaires. A total of 130 mothers who had delivered within 6 months were included in the study. Seventy per cent of these mothers contacted the village midwives at least once during their pregnancy. The average attendance was 3.8 antenatal contacts per mother. Seventy-one per cent of those who contacted the village midwives did so during the first half of pregnancy. Half of these mothers were seen in the village midwife's own home and only 20 per cent were in the mothers' homes. The village midwife attended 76 per cent of the deliveries, 11 per cent were attended by the traditional birth attendants, and the remainder delivered in hospital. The village midwives demonstrated reasonable standard of knowledge and competence in various aspects of antenatal care, history taking, examination, and selection of cases for referral. They lack adequate support and supervision, and supplies of drugs such as iron, folic acid, and chloroquine tablets.