Factors affecting antenatal services in a rural area of district Panipat

Background: Being a mother involves many risks which are well known from an era of time. It can range from minor hyperemesis to life threatening hemorrhages. A very effective measure to counter these risks is Antenatal care involving antenatal checkups, investigations and specific protection measures like TT immunization and IFA tablets. All these services are provided to women in India through various schemes, a few like JSY, JSSK and PMSMA. Objective: This study was planned in an area where limitation of such services due to a density of population is there to estimate the utilization of Antenatal Care Services and to look for various factors responsible for the pattern of utilization. Method: A community based cross-sectional survey was done in Madlauda block of district Panipat having a population of 1.43 lakhs on recently delivered women residing in the study area during the period of study. The data were collected with the help of a semi-structured interview schedule. Results: Most of the women had antenatal registration and though a good number of women delivered their babies at a healthcare facility, still most of them did not avail the minimum required antenatal checkups i.e. a minimum of 4 antenatal visits. TT immunization rate was quite high while consumption of IFA tablets was relatively very low. Analyses of the socio-demographic factors revealed education status, caste, work and religion to be significantly associated (p<0.05) with antenatal checkups and type of family, education status, work status and religion to be significantly associated with institutional deliveries. (p