Author: Afrin Sagir, Aditi Vian Varma, Charmaine Minoli Samarasinghe, and Sworoop Thomas John
Institution: Kasturba Medical College, Manipal
India accounts for nearly 20% of maternal and child health services in the globe. This could be related to several factors such as non utilization or under utilization of maternal and child health (MCH) services. For proper programme implementation, understanding community knowledge and practices regarding maternal care during pregnancy, delivery, and postnatal period is required. To assess the utilization of MCH services, a cross sectional community based study was conducted in a sub-centre area of the Udupi District. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 185 recently delivered mothers and the data analyzed using SPSS (version 13.0) package. 90% of the women had at least 3 antenatal visits and 96% of them had institutional deliveries. 89% of the women were aware of the different contraceptive methods available. Around 37% of the under-fives were malnourished. Despite the findings, improving community awareness on maternal and child health (MCH) services is still required.