Knowledge, awareness, and utilization pattern of services under Janani Suraksha Yojana among beneficiaries in rural area of Himachal Pradesh

Introduction: Safe motherhood is perceived as a human right, and the health sector is always encouraged to provide quality services to ensure the same. Government of India launched a scheme called Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) on April 11, 2005, under the flagship of National Rural Health Mission to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, by promoting institutional deliveries for which financial incentives are provided to mothers delivering in the health facilities. Objective: To study the knowledge, awareness, and utilization pattern of services under JSY among the beneficiaries in rural area of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among the 78 JSY beneficiaries residing in the rural field practice area of Indira Gandhi Medical College Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. These beneficiaries were interviewed with pretested, predesigned, semi-structured close ended questionnaire by house-to-house visits, after obtaining informed consent. Results: Majority of the JSY beneficiaries (50; 64%) were in the age group of 20–25 years and 43 (55.1%) of them heard about the JSY scheme before the present pregnancy. Anganwadi workers 78 (100%) and female health workers (62; 79.5%) were the main sources of information. More than half of the study participants (44; 56%) had good knowledge about the scheme and 42 (53.85%) registered their name in health institution during thefirst trimester of last pregnancy. Forty-four (56.4%) beneficiaries had undergone three antenatal checkups and only 11 (14.1%) of them received three postnatal (PN) visits. All the beneficiaries received the JSY incentives 1-week the following delivery. Conclusions: Awareness regarding the JSY scheme, early antenatal registration, minimum three antenatal care visits, and three PN visits is still low among rural women which needs strengthening through intensification of IEC activities