Utilisation of ante natal care (ANC) services by mothers in a rural block of Haryana, India

Introduction: Antenatal care (ANC) refers to the care of the woman during pregnancy. The primary aim of antenatal care is to achieve at the end of the pregnancy, a healthy mother and a healthy baby. The maternal mortality and morbidity continue to be high despite the existence of national programs for improving maternal and child health in India. This could be related to several factors, an important one being non-utilization or under-utilization of maternal health-care services. Objectives: The present study was conducted to find out the utilization of ANC services among women with children less than 1 year of agein a rural block of Haryana. Methods: A population based cross sectional study was conducted among 210 mothers with children less than 1 year of age living in Lakhan Majra block of Rohtak district, Haryana during Nov & Dec 2016. 30 X 7 cluster sampling technique used by WHO for coverage evaluation surveys was used in our study as the sampling technique. The survey on ANC services utilisation was done in each selected cluster on 7 eligible mothers to find out the immunization coverage of the children living in that area. Collected data were analysed using frequency distribution and proportions. Results: Majority (90.9%) of the mothers were above 20 years of age. MCP card was available with 86.2% of mothers. All mothers had taken the first dose of TT and 97% of them received TT2/Booster dose. 92.3 % mothers consumed IFA tablets though not regularly. All the mothers had at least one antenatal visit during their pregnancy. Majority (96.66%) of the mothers had institutional deliveries. 3.34% deliveries were still being conducted at home. Delivery of majority (96.66%) of the study subjects was attended by health staff. Still 3.33% deliveries were attended by untrained persons. Conclusion: Utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services and promotion of institutional deliveries should be increased by enhancing awareness among females by strengthening IEC activities by health workers.