MATERNAL health

Submitted by:
Shreshtha kanojia
Antenatal care

-Among women who give birth in the five years preceding the
survey, 88 percent received antenatal care from a health
professional (76% from a doctor and 12% from all other
health personnel) for their last birth.
-Only 7 percent of women received no antenatal care.
-Almost all (97%) urban women received antenatal care from a
health professional for their last birth, compared with four-
fifths (81%) of rural women.
-More than one ten in rural women did not receive any
antenatal care.
 Series 1
BIHAR
UTTAR PRADESH
NAGALAND
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
PUNJAB
DELHI
MAHARASHTRA
KARNATAKA
ANDHRA PRADESH
KERALA
GOA
TAMILNADU
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Almost all women in urban areas, women with 10 or more years
of education, and women in the higher wealth quintiles
received antenatal care. Schedule-tribe women were less
likely than women belonging to any other caste/tribe category
to have received antenatal care.

Less than two-thirds (62%) of women received antenatal care

during the first trimester of pregnancy, as is recommended.
Another 20 percent had their first antenatal care visit during
the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy (data not shown in
tables). Three-quarters of women had three or more
antenatal care visits; women in urban areas were much more
likely to have three or more visits than women in rural areas.
 Three or more visits Visit during 1st trimester
80

70

60

50
NFHS-1
40 NFHS-2
NFHS-3
30

20

10

0
The proportions of women who received three or more antenatal
care visits and the proportion who had their first antenatal
care visit in the first trimester of pregnancy for their last
births have both increased significantly in the seven years
since NFHS-2.

For 81 percent of their last births, mothers received iron and

folic acid supplements (IFA), but only for 31 percent of the
births did mothers consume IFA for the recommended 90 days
or more. Eighty-five percent of mothers received two or more
doses of tetanus toxoid vaccine. Only 4 percent took a
deworming drug during pregnancy.

In Maharashtra, more than four-fifths of women who received

antenatal care, received most of the service needed to
monitor their pregnancy like having their wrught taken (90%),
abdomen examined (88%), blood pressure measured (87%), and
blood and urine samples taken (83-85%).
An ultrasound test was performed during almost half (47%) of
pregnancies in the five years precedingthe survey; this
proportion is twice as high as the national average (24%).
Even one-third of rural women and one-fifth each of women
with no education and schedule-tribe women had an
ultrasound test. Notably, 4 percent of women who did not
have any antenatal care visits for their most recent
pregnancy had an ultrasound test. Seventy percent or more
women with 10 or more years of education and women in the
highest wealth quintile had ultrasound tests during their
pregnancies. Pregnant women with no living sons are much
more likely to have an ultrasound test than women with one
or more sons. For example, among women with two children,
52% with two daughters and no son had an ultrasound test,
compared with 30% with one son or two sons.