# Maternity and child health records, from antenatal care to growth monitoring > Partograph, ANC, delivery and newborn records, postnatal care, growth monitoring with WHO z-scores and the Ethiopian EPI schedule, on one patient record. Source: https://www.medicine.et/for/maternity Site: Bloom Medicine — https://www.medicine.et --- Antenatal visits, labour with the partograph, the newborn, postnatal care, the EPI schedule and growth charts — one record per mother and child, with the HMIS return built from it. With or without a labour ward. ## Measured in Ethiopia - **72% → 40%** — of Ethiopian children received BCG, but only 40% completed the third pentavalent dose (EDHS 2024–25) ([Research note · Immunisation](https://www.medicine.et/research/zero-dose-immunisation)) - **26%** — of institutional-birth records were consistent across the delivery register, folder and card (Central Gondar, 2022) ([BMC Health Serv Res, 2023](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10127-0)) - **54.92%** — pooled partograph use among Ethiopian obstetric caregivers, across 23 studies ([Front Glob Womens Health, 2025](https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2025.1339685)) - **25.82%** — of Ethiopian women completed the maternity continuum of care — ANC, skilled birth and postnatal care ([BMJ Open, 2022](https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062461)) ## The problems we hear from maternity and MCH units - **Children who start vaccines and never finish** — Most children get BCG at birth. Far fewer reach the third pentavalent dose — and the drop happens after the facility already has the child on its books. - **One birth, three records that disagree** — The delivery register, the woman’s folder and her card are each filled in separately — and the monthly report is counted from whichever one is nearest. - **A partograph filled in after the fact** — A loose sheet in a busy labour ward is completed late or not at all, and it rarely stays with the mother’s record. - **Women lost between ANC, delivery and postnatal care** — A woman who comes for antenatal care but delivers elsewhere, or never returns after the birth, disappears from the list without anyone seeing it. - **Growth plotted by hand** — Weights in a register, z-scores worked out on a chart on the wall — and a faltering child spotted months late. - **Registers and the monthly HMIS return** — The same deliveries and vaccinations are tallied again at month-end for the woreda, from the registers, by hand. ## What changes - **Know which child missed which dose** — The Ethiopian EPI schedule is on every child’s vaccination card, with due and missed doses shown before the month ends — not after. - **One birth, recorded once** — Labour with the partograph, the delivery, the newborn record and birth notification all sit on the mother’s and baby’s records — and the HMIS count comes from the same entry. - **Growth charts plotted for you** — WHO growth charts with z-scores, growth monitoring sessions and acute-malnutrition programmes, with field screens on the phone for growth and postnatal visits. - **The return built from the work** — Monthly, quarterly and annual HMIS returns on the official reporting calendar, with a DHIS2 export keyed by FMOH indicator code. ## The modules maternity and MCH units use - [Maternity & Child Health](https://www.medicine.et/features#maternal-child) (add-on) — From antenatal care to growth monitoring, with or without a labour ward. - [Sexual & Reproductive Health](https://www.medicine.et/features#srh) (add-on) — The registers a youth-friendly service keeps, including work done away from the building. - [Specialty Charting](https://www.medicine.et/features#specialties) — Specialty packs that install the forms, diagnoses and service catalogue a department needs. - [HMIS & Surveillance](https://www.medicine.et/features#hmis) — The national returns a facility is legally required to file, produced from the work already recorded. - [Notifications](https://www.medicine.et/features#notifications) — Telegram, WhatsApp, SMS and push from your own templates, with proof of what arrived. - [Mobile App](https://www.medicine.et/features#mobile-app) — The facility in a pocket for staff, and still readable when the connection drops. - [Inpatient Wards](https://www.medicine.et/features#inpatient) (add-on) — Wards, beds and the stay itself — from the admission waiting list to the discharge clearance. - [Operating Theatre](https://www.medicine.et/features#theatre) (add-on) — Sessions, case booking and a WHO safety checklist the system actually enforces. ## From the first ANC visit to the last vaccine 1. **Antenatal care** — ANC contacts on the woman’s record, with the next visit booked and a reminder sent. 2. **Labour** — Labour and delivery recorded with the partograph — on a ward if you have one, as a register entry if you do not. 3. **The newborn** — The baby gets a record of their own, with the birth notification raised from the delivery. 4. **Postnatal care** — Postnatal contacts in the facility, or on the phone during a home visit. 5. **Vaccines and growth** — The EPI schedule shows what is due and missed; growth is plotted with WHO z-scores. 6. **Report** — The month’s deliveries, vaccinations and visits come out as the HMIS return and DHIS2 export. ## Questions ### Is there a digital partograph? Yes. Labour and delivery are recorded with the partograph. ### Does it follow the Ethiopian EPI schedule? Yes, with due and missed doses shown on each child’s vaccination card. ### Does it plot WHO growth charts? Yes, with z-scores, alongside growth monitoring sessions and acute-malnutrition programmes. ### Do we need a labour ward to use it? No. Deliveries are recorded as register entries in facilities without a ward; facilities with the Inpatient module admit the mother to a bed. ### Can it produce our HMIS report? Yes. Monthly, quarterly and annual HMIS returns on the official calendar, plus a DHIS2 export keyed by FMOH indicator code. It produces the export; submitting it to DHIS2 stays with your HMIS focal person. ### Can we do home postnatal visits on a phone? There are mobile field screens for postnatal and growth-monitoring visits. They need a connection to save; offline, the app is for viewing only. ### Does it cover family planning and abortion care? Yes. Family planning and ANC visits are in the SRH module, and comprehensive abortion care is in Maternity & Child Health. ## Cited research - [Ethiopia's first full DHS in nine years: what moved and what stalled](https://www.medicine.et/research/edhs-2024-25) — The EDHS 2024–25 Key Indicators Report is the first national demographic and health survey since 2016. Maternal and child survival improved sharply. Nutrition and routine immunisation did not. - [One in five children unvaccinated: reading the dropout curve](https://www.medicine.et/research/zero-dose-immunisation) — 20% of Ethiopian children aged 12–23 months have received no vaccinations at all. But the more actionable number is the gap between the first dose and the last — a tracking failure, not an access failure. - [Reporting on time and reporting correctly are different problems](https://www.medicine.et/research/dhis2-data-quality) — Ethiopia runs one of the world's largest DHIS2 deployments — 30,000+ facilities, 95% reporting rates. The national maturity assessment scores data quality and infrastructure far lower. Submitting a report and submitting a correct one are not the same achievement.