Bhanwar Singh, Meely Panda, Brij Mohan Vashisht, Bhumika Bhatt, Shasanka Shekhar Panda
Objectives: Objective of this study was to find out practices related to delivery and antenatal care among a group of females in a rural block of Haryana
Methodology: We conducted a study in the block Lakhanmajra which is a rural field practice area attached to Department of Community Medicine PGIMS, Rohtak. A total of 210 study subjects were selected out of a cluster sampling and they were interviewed by a pre-tested, semi structured schedule.
Results: It was found that only 72% of females received antenatal care. Tetanus toxoid (TT) coverage was 95.7% and 4.3% females did not receive even a single dose of TT. More than half of the subjects (55%) were not consuming adequate number of Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets. Almost 24.7% deliveries were conducted at home and nearly 50% of deliveries were in government facility. Still 4.7% 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, ensuring availability of health staff, improvement in quality of services in government setups and training of all untrained birth attendant.
Key words: Antenatal care, rural area, delivery practices