Maternal health indicators in Brazil: A time series study

Abstract

In addition to the maternal death indicator, Stork Network proposes the number of prenatal consultations, the gestational age of onset of prenatal care and the number of children breastfeeding.The study aims to analyze maternal health indicators representative of the actions proposed by Stork Network in Brazil, after its implementation. Therefore, this is an ecological study of maternal health indicators in Brazil from 2012 to 2017.Thus, it was found that the number of prenatal consultations per pregnant woman in Brazil from 2012 to 2017 increased >4 times between the first and the last year analyzed. The proportion of pregnant women who started prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy increased progressively each year in Brazil.The breastfeeding coefficient also increased progressively between 2014 and 2017 in Brazil. It was found that maternal health indicators improved between 2012 and 2017 in the Brazilian territory.