Background: Antenatal care has been identified as
pivotal to improving maternal and child health in Malawi.
Though Malawian women consistently seek antenatal
care, they rarely do so during their first trimester. The
purpose of this study was to identify barriers to antenatal
care uptake among Malawian women. This article adds to
the literature by identifying common sociocultural
barriers and their impact on ANC attendance.
Methods: Two large tertiary care hospitals in the central
and southern regions of Malawi were selected as study
sites. Twenty pregnant mothers and eight health workers
were recruited and interviewed. The interviews were
transcribed verbatim and analyzed to identify themes.
Posters in health facilities were also analyzed.
Results: Results revealed many contributors to delayed
antenatal attendance among Malawian mothers
including: attitudes toward pregnancy, hospital
inefficiencies, ANC promotion at the health
facilities/communities, and spousal/significant other
involvement all contributed to delayed antenatal
attendance among urban Malawian women.
Conclusions: Incorporating spouses/significant others in
antenatal care activities, providing a consistent message
in promotion materials used with the women and
addressing the inefficiencies within the health system
could be targets to improve early antenatal attendance in
Malawi.