Pregnancy continuum care (PNC) is critical: it has the potential to reduce perinatal morbidity and mortality by treating medical conditions, identifying and mitigating risks, and helping women to address behavioral factors that contribute to poor outcomes. 

 

However, despite Canada’s universally funded health care system, pregnancy care use varies widely across the province with the highest rates of inadequate pregnancy care found in northern Manitoba. Although research has been conducted in inner-city Winnipeg on the determinants of inadequate PNC, little is known about the determinants of inadequate PNC in northern Manitoba. Indigenous women living in these areas experience several transitions in care during this time, between both health systems and jurisdictions. Poor transitions or lack of continuity in these transitions can lead to poor prenatal and infant care, resulting in significant morbidity in mothers and children, perpetuating inequities in health. Wholistic, culturally safe interventions are needed to support continuity of care during the perinatal period to reduce these inequities and promote lifelong well-being among Indigenous women and their children. 

 

To address these inequities, we gathered a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, policy makers, health providers and Indigenous women to develop and evaluate an intervention to improve continuity of care for Indigenous women during the perinatal period.

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This will be the first health systems intervention to improve health systems transitions during the perinatal period for Indigenous women living in northern regions in Canada. It will serve a model for improving health systems and jurisdictional transitions among Indigenous women during the pernatal period.

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This project builds upon a successful health systems intervention delivered in Winnipeg’s inner city that improved rates of prenatal care. To hear more, click here. To read the final evaluative report, click here.