The Follow-up Status of Pregnancies and Children and the Evaluation of Accessibility to Health Services in the City of Ağrı

Objective: in our country and throughout the world, the health of pregnant women and infants is a very important parameter in showing the adequacy of health services. the services of prenatal care, birth under healthy circumstances, postnatal follow-up of the puerperants, newborn baby care and the followup of the infants' growth and development are the most basic health services. by providing these services, mothers are going to have healthier pregnancies and healthier babies. the aim of this study was to determine the status of the surveillances of the pregnant women and infants and to evaluate the accessibility of health services in the villages of ağrı city. method: this work is an identifying research made between the dates of july-august 2008 in all the villages of ağrı city. the survey had been performed using face to face interview method with one of the parents by the health personnel visiting all the villages of the city centre and all the counties. our survey included 9 questions. obtained data were assessed by spss 15.0 statistical program package. results: in this study, 2636 people from 571 villages were subjected to a questionnaire. subjects who participated to this survey stated that 99,8% had been visited by health personnel for vaccination in the last month, 87,9% had been carried out pregnancy follow-ups. 84,3% had been vaccinated for tetanus during their pregnancy period. 96,7% said that their children had been fully vaccinated and followed up. 1,4% affirmed that no health personnel visited to them and 2,1% rejected vaccination of their own accord. discussion: by providing effective prenatal and postnatal care to the pregnant women, a very significant contribution will be made in order to decrease mother and infant mortality rates.