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higher ed ucation levels a nd lower fertility rates, than their
count e rparts in t h e rura l a r eas. The u rban women t he r efo r e are
more l i kely to have lower ris k factor r e t es t ha n t he rura l
women . Because r u r a l women f o r m a bou t 70 % of t he total
Ghanaian female population, t he high nati o na l risk factor
rates r e flec t more their health s i tuation .
About n ine out of e very ten SUbjects ( 95\ ) i n t h is stUdy
sample had had some antenata l c a r e . This f i nd i ng i s q u i t e
similar to t he antenatal ca re coverage rate of 9 1\ recorded
nationally i n 1990 (24 ] . While t he na t ional f igures ind i cate
t ha t about a t hird (3 5%) o f pregnant women started a nt e na t a l
ca r e i n their th i rd t r i meste r i n 19 90 , in this study s a mpl e
the proportion was much lower, and was 9 . J \ .
On t he average t he women in t hi s s t udy had 6 . 7 ant.enatna
clinic attendances , a figure slightly h i gher t han the 5 . 1
visits recorded f o r the d istrict in 1989 pl], bu t which i s
considerably h igher t ha n t he nati onal av e r a ge o r 2 .1 v isits in
1990 (24] . Subjects in t his study sample can , cnerercr-e , be
describe as ha ving 1'1.d s l ightly " be t t e r " pregnancy care than
t hat «hLch occurred on the average nationally. They h o we ve r
had similar pregn a nc y care to that no ted earlier for women i n
d i s t rict.
The pa t tern of antenat:al care observed i n t h is s tud y
sampl e i s very similar t o that observed in a stud y of
an t e na t al care coverage i n a rural commun ity in Ta n za nia .