BackgroundThe aim of this study was to determine whether PRENACEL (a bi-directional, mobile-phone based, short text message service (SMS)) increases the coverage of recommended antenatal care (ANC) practices.MethodsA parallel, cluster-randomized trial in which 20 public primary Health Care Units (PHCUs) were randomly allocated to the intervention (10 PHCUs) or control (10 PHCUs) group. The study population included pregnant women aged 18 or above with a gestational age of 20 weeks or less. Pregnant women receiving ANC in intervention PHCUs were invited through leaflets and posters to register in PRENACEL. Women who registered in PRENACEL received a weekly set of short text messages with health education and health promotion content related to pregnancy and childbirth and were also able to clarify ANC queries through SMS. All women received routine ANC. The primary outcome was the proportion of women with high ANC Score, a composite measure of coverage of recommended ANC practices. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests and multivariate log-binomial regression were used to analyze the outcomes.ResultsA total of 1210 eligible women received ANC in the participating PHCUs and took part of this study (770 in the intervention group and 440 in the control group). 20.4% (157/770) of intervention-group women registered in PRENACEL, but only 116 read all messages (73.9% of women who registered in PRENACEL, 116/157). The adjusted intention-to-treat analysis suggested no difference between intervention and control groups in the primary outcome (Adjusted Relative Risk (AdjRR): 1.05 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.00–1.09). Both crude and adjusted per-protocol analysis suggested a positive effect of PRENACEL (Crude RR (95% CI): 1.14 (1.06–1.22), AdjRR (95% CI): 1.12 (1.05–1.21). The multivariate analysis also suggests that the PRENACEL group (women who read all SMS) had higher mean ANC score [48.5 (±4.2) vs 45.2 (±8.7), p < 0.01], higher proportion of women with ≥6 ANC visits (96.9% vs. 84.8%, p = 0.01), and higher rates of syphilis testing (40.5% vs. 24.8%, p = 0.03) and HIV testing (46.6% vs. 25.7%, p < 0.01) during ANC.ConclusionsA bi-directional, mobile-phone based, short text message service is potentially useful to improve the coverage of recommended ANC practices, including syphilis and HIV testing.Trial registrationClinical trial registry: RBR-54zf73, U1111–1163-7761.ResumoIntroduçãoO objetivo deste estudo foi determinar se o PRENACEL, um serviço bidirecional de mensagens curtas de texto (SMS) com base na telefonia celular, aumenta a cobertura das práticas recomendadas de cuidados pré-natais (PN).Métodosum ensaio paralelo, aleatorizado por conglomerados, no qual 20 unidades básicas de saúde (UBS) foram alocadas aleatoriamente para o grupo de intervenção (10 UBS) ou controle (10 UBS). A população estudada incluiu gestantes com idade igual ou superior a 18 anos com idade gestacional de 20 semanas ou menos. As gestantes que receberam PN em UBS intervenção foram convidadas através de folhetos e cartazes para se inscreverem n...

In 1999 the Municipal Health Department in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, implemented the provision of surgical contraceptive methods according to prevailing legal requirements. This study aimed to characterize the candidates for surgical sterilization and study the variables associated with the type of procedure. A total of 95 candidate patient records were studied, and statistical logistic regression analysis and Fisher's exact test were performed considering a significance level of ? = 0.05. Most candidates had stable partners, low schooling, and low income, were satisfied with their number of children, and had already tried to limit the number of children using reversible contraceptives. Mean age was 34.2 years, 45.3% underwent female sterilization, 35.8% underwent vasectomy, and 18.9% did not submit to any procedure. The odds of a man older than 35 having a vasectomy were 6.1 times that of a younger man (OR = 6.1; 95%CI: 2.4-16.4). More married men submitted to vasectomy than men who cohabited (OR = 4.0; 95%CI: 1.5-12.4). Women with four or more children were more likely to undergo sterilization than those with fewer children (OR = 3.1; 95%CI: 1.1-8.5).

Background: The partner has an important role when he participates of the prenatal care as showed in the positive results relate to the mother and the child health. For this reason it is an important strategy to bring future fathers closer to health services and to improve their link with paternity. Aim: To evaluate whether the implementation of SMS technology, through the PRENACEL program for the partner as a health education program, is a useful supplement to the standard prenatal monitoring. Methods: A parallel cluster randomized trial was carried out, with the clusters representing primary care health units. The 20 health units with the largest number of pregnant women in 2013 were selected for the study. There was a balance of the health units according to the size of the affiliated population and the vulnerability situation and these were allocated in intervention and control health units by the randomization. The partners of the pregnant women who started prenatal care prior to the 20th week of gestation were the study population of the intervention group. The participants received periodic short text messages via mobile phone with information about the pregnancy and birth. In the control group units the partners, together with the women, received the standard prenatal care. Results: One hundred eighty-six partners were interviewed, 62 from the PRENACEL group, 73 from the intervention group that did not opt for PRENACEL and 51 from the control group. A profile with a mean age of 30 years was found and the majority of respondents (51.3%) declared themselves as brown race/color. The interviewees presented a mean of 9.3 years of study. The majority of the men (95.2%) cohabited with their partner and 63.7% were classified as socioeconomic class C. The adherence to the PRENACEL program was 53.4%. In relation to the individual results, there was a greater participation of the PRENACEL partners in the prenatal consultations, as well as a greater presence of them accompanying the woman at the moment of the childbirth when compared to the other groups. Conclusion: The study showed that a health education strategy using communication technology seems to be a useful prenatal care supplement; the intervention had a good acceptability and has a promising role in men's involvement in prenatal, labour and postpartum care of their partners.

Male Partner in the Prenatal Care as a strategy to reduce vertical transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and improvement of perinatal health indicators The goal of these study was to evaluate of the influence of the implementation of the project "Male Partner in the Prenatal Care (MPPC)" in Ribeirao Preto city on: 1) the rates of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis virus B and C (HBV, HCV), and Treponema pallidum (TP) among pregnant women; 2) the vertical transmission (VT) rates of HBV, HCV, HIV and TP; 3) the prenatal care quality indicators (number of visits, gestational age (GA) at the first visit, gestational outcome); 4) the perinatal indicators (birth weight, prematurity, Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes) and 5) the rates of infection with HIV, HBV, HCV and TP in partners that have joined the project. It is a cross-sectional study of group of the pregnant women (G) and born alive (BA) who had their partners participating MPPC project (called G1 and NV1) and the group of pregnant women and BA who have not had their partners participants (called G2 and NV2). The pregnant women groups and the male partners group were surveyed in the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 and the BA groups, between July 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014. Were selected 5391 pregnant women (1781 of the G1 and 3610 of the G2), 1781 partners and 4044 BA (1376 of the NV1 and 2668 of the NV2). Used the Chi-square test of Pearson with a 5% significance level. The results showed statistically more favorable prognosis in the group where there was the partner's participation in prenatal care (G1 and NV1). The lower VT rate was found (0.7% in NV 1 and 1.5% in NV2 p= 0.04); earlier initiation of PN (up to 120 days of gestation 88.3% in G1 and 74.3% in G2 with p< 0.01); more than seven consultations in PNC (80.8% in G1 and 74.3% in G2 with p< 0.01); favorable pregnancy outcome (95.9% in G1 and 94.2% in G2 with p= 0.01); lower prematurity rates (10.3% in the NV1 and 12.9% in the NV2 with p= 0.01); lower incidence of low birth weight (8.7% in NV1 and 11.4% in NV2 with p< 0.01) and better Apgar scores at five minutes (2.5% Apgar ≤ 7 in NV1 and 3.8% in NV2 with p= 0.03). Considering these data it was concluded that the male partner's inclusion strategy in prenatal care was important in the identification and treatment of syphilis reducing significantly the VT rate of the TP. The partner's adherence to MPPC project was essential to the mother's adherence to PNC and it was also associated with significant improvement in perinatal health indicators.

IntroductionThe increase in congenital syphilis rates represents near-failure to the usual public health resources, making room for new approaches such as the inclusion of the partner in prenatal care. To evaluate the influence of this new strategy ”Male Partner in the Prenatal Care Strategy (MPPCS)” on: 1) The vertical transmission (VT) rate of syphilis; 2) The syphilis rate among pregnant women; 3) The syphilis rate in the partners who joined the strategy; 4) What variables influence partner`s adherence in the MPPCS. MethodsThis was a longitudinal study carried out in Ribeirao Preto (São Paulo State, Brazil). It was enrolled pregnant women (PW) and live births (LB) divided in two groups. The group in which had their partners participating in the MPPCS project was denominated PW1 and LB1, and the group without participation in the MPPCS project was denominated PW2 and LB2. These groups were followed from beginning until the end of pregnancy. Were selected 5391 pregnant women (1781 of the PW1 and 3610 of the PW2), and 4044 LB (1376 of the LB1 and 2668 of the LB2). The statistical analyses were done by Chi-square test of Pearson with a 5% significance level. ResultsThe results showed that VT rates of syphilis were lower in the group where the partners have adhered to the MPPCS. The VT rate found were: 0.7% in LB1% and 1.5% in LB2 (p=0.04). The syphilis rate found in the partners participating in the MPPCS was 1.3%. In the pregnant women, there was no association between the occurrence of syphilis between PW1 (1.6%) and PW2 (2.0%), with p=0.20. The main variable that have influenced partner`s adherence rate in the MPPCS project was the commitment of the health care team, with some units presenting 98% of partner’s adhesion and others with less than 20%. ConclusionsThe adherence of partners in the MPPCS was very important in the identification and treatment of male-pregnant women with syphilis, and significantly reduced the TV rate of syphilis. The commitment of the health care team is the most important variable in the adherence of the partner to the MPPCS.