Continuum of maternal care in India

Abstract

Background: India accounts for 20% of global preventable pregnancy-related deaths which can be averted through proper continuum of care (CoC). The paper aims at identifying the association between previous experiences of child death on the CoC for the recent child. <br /> <br /> Data and Methods: The study is based on DLHS-4(2012-13) which includes 89,696 women who had delivered at least two births during last five years. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were used to analyse the data.<br /> <br /> Results: More than 11% of women who did not experience child loss and about 14% of women with child loss did not receive any of the three services namely ANC, institutional delivery and PNC. About 12% of women with experience of child loss have completed the entire continuum in contrast to only 10% of those without child loss.<br /> <br /> Conclusions: Women who had experienced child loss were more likely to opt for the continuum of care as compared to women who did not have previous history of child loss. This reflects that women might have become more conscious and would not want to suffer a child loss again. Health workers should focus on educating women on the importance of completing continuum through increased capacity building, community participation, effective health education and communication, use of mHealth etc.