ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to understand prenatal care in a border region during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a qualitative study conducted between August 2021 and January 2022 in primary health care facilities with 27 participants from among women and health workers in semistructured, remote, and in-person interviews, whose data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four thematic categories were identified: delayed initiation of prenatal care, partiality in prenatal health measures, (in)health information in a pandemic period, and COVID-19 preventive measures in pregnancy. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to setbacks in prenatal care, such as limiting the presence of others than not the pregnant individual during consultations and examinations, exposing groups of pregnant women to health information losses, postponing the start of prenatal care, and or compromising their deliveries, especially among Brazilian women living in Paraguay. Telecare as a strategy for prenatal follow-up has been slow to be implemented. Health services have been reorganized to maintain infection prevention measures and provide prenatal follow-up in person.
KEYWORDS
Prenatal care; Primary Health Care; COVID-19; Border health