Clan-involved approaches to increasing antenatal care use in a rural minority area of China: implementation research

AIM This study aimed to test a model which involved clans and health providers to increase antenatal care attendance in rural minority areas of China with high HIV prevalence. METHODS Formative research was conducted to determine barriers and facilitators to antenatal care use. A strategy involving clans in addressing the barriers identified was developed. Implementation of the new strategy was done through three plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles, lasting four months each. RESULTS Awareness and uptake of antenatal care increased significantly after the intervention. The proportion of post-partum women who used any antenatal care increased from 21.3% to 64.5% (p