A project promoting regular antenatal care visits and handwashing with soap before eating was carried out last year in Laos, Sekong region. While handwashing has been addressed many times with RANAS campaigns, antenatal care visits was a new topic for us. In collaboration with SFE Laos and SME Suisse, Ranas realized a pilot project to investigate how behaviour change interventions can contribute to motivating and enabling pregnant women to go for at least four antenatal care check-ups to local health centers during a pregnancy.
The campaign focused on providing knowledge, highlighting benefits of the visits for the women, increasing social norms, and providing practical guidance on when and where to go for these visits during village sessions. Specifically designed posters and information material were used. Also, male partners of the women were included in the activities to acknowledge their important role when it comes to family decisions.
