Abstract
Some pregnant women do book concurrently with multiple antenatal care providers. Structured questionnaires were administered to women attending antenatal clinics in 12 facilities in Enugu, Nigeria. A total of 535 women responded: 372 (69.5%) were booked into more than one facility and 163 (30.5%) were booked into a single facility; 280 (52.3%) booked into the two Teaching Hospitals and 91 (12.5%) booked with a traditional birth attendant. Reasons for multiple bookings included selecting a facility with affordable prices (43.9%); selecting a facility promising vaginal delivery (35.3%); avoiding HIV testing (17.9%); avoiding caesarean section (10.8%); avoiding being regarded as unbooked (10.1%) and booking into a facility where they were not known. Possible disadvantages were confusion in deciding where to deliver (53.1%); default on expert advice (27.5%); mismanagement (18.7%); delays, complications and death (12.5%). Multiple bookings were common in this study. Disadvantages of this practice, including risk of death, were identified by the women.
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Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.