Assessing the effectiveness of decentralised antenatal ultrasound in a primary health care clinic compared with a hospital-based service in rural South Africa: an interrupted time series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Antenatal ultrasound is recommended as a routine part of care in all pregnancies by the World Health Organisation and South African National Department of Health-ideally before 24 weeks' gestation. Despite these recommendations, access to timely antenatal ultrasound is still limited in many low-resource settings, including South Africa. Decentralisation of services away from the hospital setting has been identified as a possible solution to access-related challenges. This study assessed the effect of a decentralised, primary health care based antenatal ultrasound service compared to an existing hospital-based service in a rural sub-district of the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective, quasi-experimental, interrupted time series analys

SUBMITTER: Westwood CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12751396 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature