Background: Utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services is poor in the peri-urban areas, causing increased maternal morbidity and mortality.
Objective: (i) To determine the current status of utilization of ANC services and (ii) to asses factors affecting utilization of ANC services.
Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in peri-urban field practice area of urban health training center, J N Medical College, Aligarh, India. The data were collected by home visit using a pretested, structured, semi-open questionnaire from 200 recently delivered women, who utilized ANC services. Data were tabulated and analyzed by using SPSS-20. Proportion, frequencies, and χ2-tests were used to interpret the data.
Result: Full utilization of ANC services was found to be 59%. Home deliveries were 23% and all were conducted by untrained persons. Utilization of ANC services was significantly associated with education, socioeconomic status, parity, and age at marriage. Main reasons for inadequate (partial/no) utilization of ANC services were financial constrains (34.14%) and lack of awareness (30.48%), whereas for home deliveries it was tradition (23.91%) and financial constrains (21.74%).
Conclusion: Utilization of ANC services was not satisfactory and home deliveries by untrained person were still present. Prevailing barriers to utilization of ANC services and institutional deliveries must be identified and taken into consideration in planning and policy making.
Key words: Antenatal care services, cross-sectional study, peri-urban area, utilization
|
