A survey of 452 pregnant women accessing care at first level public health facilities in a local government area in
southwest Nigeria was conducted to assess their perspectives on the quality of antenatal care received. Majority of
the women expressed satisfaction with the level of expertise and basic technical competence of their careproviders.
Less than 30% were pleased with the existing patients’ referral mechanisms. At least two-thirds received as much
information as desired in salient aspects of antenatal health information needs. Frequency of antenatal visits was
“about the same as expected” for 93.6% of the women. The mean reported waiting time before antenatal
consultation was 131.1 minutes although 106 (43.3 %) women expected to be attended within 30 minutes of arrival.
Approximately two-thirds of women were unhappy about their involvement in decision-making with respect to
birth planning and postpartum contraception. Compared to other elements of quality, women were least pleased
with constellation of services especially sanitary facilities and number of skilled healthcare providers. On the whole,
respondents expressed a high level of overall satisfaction (81.4%) with the care received. The survey indicates that
antenatal women may generally express satisfaction with the quality of services despite some inconsistencies
between received care and their expectations of the facilities (Afr J Reprod Health 2008; 12[3]:71-92).