Percent of pregnant women attending antenatal care services who were treated for syphilis
Percent of pregnant women attending antenatal care services who were treated for syphilis.
Total number of pregnant women attending at least one antenatal care visit.
Age, place of residence, socioeconomic status, type of facility, first/any visit
Also: add whose sexual contacts were traced
Collected by delegated staff from available records.
Chart review(s)
Questionnaires
Identification of a pregnant woman’s syphilis serostatus provides an entry point for prevention, care, and treatment services.
Pregnant women with untreated syphilis (maternal or gestational syphilis) can transmit the infection to the fetus in utero or by direct contact with lesions during childbirth; the resulting congenital syphilis is the most prevalent form of neonatal infection in the world. Untreated syphilis is associated with stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, and serious neonatal infections, which are in turn associated with an increased risk of perinatal death.
Different kinds of diagnostic tests are available; some provide results in minutes, allowing for treatment at the same visit. The appropriate treatment for syphilis during pregnancy is at least one dose of intra-muscular (IM) penicillin G, which should be provided as close as possible to the time at which a positive result is found in the screening tests. This is a programmatic indicator reflecting treatment coverage among those identified as seropositive for syphilis.
This indicator allows countries to monitor early treatment coverage among syphilis-infected pregnant women to reduce the risk of transmission to the child and as an assessment of the women’s own health.
The indicator does not measure further quality of care, for example, penicillin allergy management. Also, treated women need to be reevaluated with quantitative serologic tests every 1 to 3 months in order to assess treatment failures, reinfection, or neurosyphilis (the last of which requires a lumbar puncture).
There is a risk of double counting in cases where treatment is provided at different points in time and/or in different health facilities. Data
collection and reporting system shoul therefore be in place to minimize the potential for double counting.
Safety of care, Process of Care, Antenatal care, Reproductive Health, Maternal health
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Regional Initiative for the Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV and Congenital Syphilis in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, D.C.:; 2010. https://www.unicef.org/lac/Regional_Monitoring_Strategy.pdf
World Health Organization (WHO). Consultation on Improving Measurement of the Quality of Maternal, Newborn and Child Care in Health Facilities.; 2013. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128206/1/9789241507417_eng.pdf
World Health Organization (WHO). 2015 Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators.; 2015. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/173589/1/WHO_HIS_HSI_2015.3_eng.pdf
