Choices for delivery care are made based on the available resources and influence health outcomes of women and their children. The aim of the paper is to study utilization and preference for delivery care and related factors in one urban and one rural area of northern Vietnam. Two cohorts of pregnant women were carried out in DodaLab and FilaBavi Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites (HDSS) in Hanoi, Vietnam from April 2008 to December 2009. Together, 2515 pregnant women were identified and followed until delivery through quarterly household interviews using structured questionnaires. Almost all women delivered at health care facilities. Most of the rural women gave birth at primary health care facilities (88.5%) while urban women primarily used secondary and tertiary hospitals (93.6%). Caesarean section (CS) was used for 38.5% of births in the urban area and 12.4% in the rural. Giving birth in hospitals and CS were more common among highly educated women, employed women, women living in households or communities with good economic conditions, and women expected to give birth to a son. Technology preference in delivery care was associated with better socioeconomic conditions and expecting a boy. Improving the quality and reputation of primary health care facilities, informing women about CS risks and monitoring indications of CS are important policy issues.

RATIONALE: Health and demographic surveillance sites (HDSSs) are important sources for health planning and policy in many low and middle income countries. Almost all HDSSs are in rural settings. The article aims to present the experiences and some concrete results for the first three years of operation of an urban HDSS in Hanoi, Vietnam, and discuss advantages and disadvantages of conducting health studies in HDSSs.

DESIGN, POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE: The DodaLab urban HDSS was established in 2007 in three communes at different economic levels in Dong Da district, Hanoi, Vietnam. Demographic, social and economic information about 10,000 households and their 37,000 persons was obtained through household interviews. Quarterly follow-up was initiated to provide information about vital events, birth, death and migration. A new household survey was undertaken in 2009. The existing rural HDSS FilaBavi, started in 1999, with 12,000 households and 52,000 persons, was used as the blueprint.

CONCLUSIONS: It was possible to establish and run an urban HDSS with experiences from the rural site. The urban and rural contexts are different and demographically, economically and socially complex, but the use of HDSSs can facilitate research beyond very simplified models for comparisons. General statements about external validity of results from the HDSS cannot be made. This issue has to be considered specifically in every situation as an integral part of the research so that the results can be made useful outside the researched HDSS and in performing relevant comparisons.

BACKGROUND: Antenatal Care (ANC) is universally considered important for women and children. This study aims to identify factors, demographic, social and economic, possibly associated with three ANC indicators: number of visits, timing of visits and content of services. The aim is also to compare the patterns of association of such factors between one rural and one urban context in northern Vietnam.

METHODS: Totally 2,132 pregnant women were followed from identification of pregnancy until birth in two Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites (HDSS). Information was obtained through quarterly face to face interviews.

RESULTS: Living in the rural area was significantly associated with lower adequate use of ANC compared to living in the urban area, both regarding quantity (number and timing of visits) and content. Low education, living in poor households and exclusively using private sector ANC in both sites and self employment, becoming pregnant before 25 years of age and living in poor communities in the rural area turned out to increase the risk for overall inadequate ANC. High risk pregnancy could not be demonstrated to be associated with ANC adequacy in either site. The medical content of services offered was often inadequate, in relation to the national recommendations, especially in the private sector.

CONCLUSION: Low education, low economic status, exclusive use of private ANC and living in rural areas were main factors associated with risk for overall inadequate ANC use as related to the national recommendations. Therefore, interventions focussing on poor and less educated women, especially in rural areas should be prioritized. They should focus the importance of early attendance of ANC and sufficient use of core services. Financial support for poor and near poor women should be considered. Providers of ANC should be educated and otherwise influenced to provide sufficient core services. Adherence to ANC content guidelines must be improved through enhanced supervision, particularly in the private sector.

BACKGROUND: The use of antenatal care (ANC) varies between countries and in different settings within each country. Most previous studies of ANC in Vietnam have been cross-sectional, and conducted in rural areas before the year 2000. This study aims to compare the pattern and the adequacy of ANC used in rural and urban Vietnam following two cohorts of pregnant women.

METHODS: A comparative study with two cohorts comprising totally 2132 pregnant women were followed in two health and demographic surveillance sites, one rural and one urban in Hanoi province, Vietnam. The women were quarterly interviewed using a structured questionnaire until delivery. The primary information obtained was the number and the content of ANC visits.

RESULTS: Almost all women reported some use of ANC. The average number of visits was much lower in the rural setting (4.4) than in the urban (7.7). In the rural area, 77.2% of women had at least three visits and 69.1% attended ANC during the first trimester. The corresponding percentages for the urban women were 97.2% and 97.2%. Only 20.3% of the rural women compared to 81.1% of the urban women received all core ANC services. As a result, the adequate use of ANC was 5.2 times in the urban than in the rural setting (78.3% compared to 15.2%). Nearly all women received ultrasound examination during pregnancy with a mean value of 6.0 scans per woman in the urban area and 3.5 in the rural. Most rural women used ANC at commune health centres and private clinics while urban women mainly visited public hospitals. Expenditure related to ANC utilization for the urban women was 7.1 times that for the urban women.

CONCLUSION: The women in the rural area attended ANC later, had fewer visits and received much fewer services than urban women. The large disparity in ANC adequacy between the two settings suggests special attention for the ANC programme in rural areas focusing on its content. Revision and enforcement of the national guidelines to improve the behaviour and practice of both users and providers are necessary.