Antenatal Care

Abstract

The purpose of antenatal care is to ensure good health in every expectant and lactating mother, to enable her to have a normal delivery and a healthy baby and to teach the art of child care. Thus, the antenatal clinic is meant not for detection of rare abnormalities, but for the supervision of the normal pregnancy. The health of the newborn baby is closely related to what happens to him in the womb, e.g. nutrition of the mother, her illnesses, and so on, and therefore if normal maternal health is maintained, the developing foetus will also have a better chance of being healthy.