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Profile of pregnant women using delivery hut services of the Ballabgarh Health and Demographic Surveillance System in rural north India
Author(s) -
Kant Shashi,
Haldar Partha,
Singh Arvind K.,
Archana S.,
Misra Puneet,
Rai Sanjay
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2016.01.012
Subject(s) - medicine , disadvantaged , caste , service delivery framework , demography , observational study , confidence interval , pregnancy , environmental health , service (business) , philosophy , linguistics , economy , pathology , sociology , biology , political science , law , economics , genetics
Objective To describe women who attended two delivery huts in rural Haryana, India. Methods The present observational study assessed routinely collected service provision data from two delivery huts located at primary health centers in the district of Faridabad. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, prenatal care, use of free transport services, and maternal and neonatal indicators at delivery were assessed for all pregnant women who used the delivery hut services from January 2012 to June 2014. Results During the study period, 1796 deliveries occurred at the delivery huts. The mean age of the mothers was 23.3 ± 3.3 years (95% confidence interval 23.1–23.5). Of 1648 mothers for whom data were available, 1039 (63.0%) had travelled less than 5 km to the delivery hut. The proportion of mothers who belonged to a lower caste increased from 31.0% (193/622) in 2012 to 41.1% (162/394) in 2014. The proportion of mothers who were illiterate also increased, from 8.1% (53/651) in 2012 to 26.4% (104/394) in 2014. Conclusion Belonging to a disadvantaged social group (in terms of caste or education) was not an obstacle to use of delivery hut services. The delivery huts might have satisfied some unmet needs of community members in rural India.