Antenatal Care Services Utilization among the Antenatal and Postnatal Women in a Rural Area of South India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Timely and quality antenatal care is a crucial determinant towards the prevention of maternal mortality, which is a significant developmental goal for developing countries, which contributes to more than 99% of maternal deaths worldwide. However, the lack of equitable access to quality ANC is a major challenge in resource-limited settings, particularly in developing countries like India. Objectives: To assess the utilization rates of antenatal care services among antenatal women and postnatal women and to determine the factors responsible forunder or non-utilization of antenatal care services (ANC). Method: The present study was conducted for a period offour months among antenatal and postnatal women in a rural area of South India. All antenatal and postnatal women except those who were not willing to participate and those who had MTP/abortion during the present pregnancy were included for the study. A pre tested semi structured questionnaire was used for collecting information regarding ANC utilization. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 175 (125 antenatal and 50 postnatal) women were interviewed. Among them, 90.3% (92% antenatal and 86% postnatal) women had completely utilized ANC services. Among the postnatal women, those who had completely utilized ANC services, 11.6% had complications at the time of their delivery and those who had incompletely utilized ANC services, 57.1% had complications.The difference was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05).Only 87.4% women were covered in home visits and 28.6% of them were not given any prenatal advice.IFA tablets were taken adequately only by 57.7% women. Conclusion: The present study revealed that most of the women were aware about the antenatal services available and had registered their pregnancy early. Td immunization was done at right time. However antenatal home visits were not effectively implemented.