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Utilization of maternal health care services and reproductive health complications in Assam, India

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Abstract

Aim

Maternal health services potentially play a significant role in improving reproductive health. Access to skilled assistance and well-equipped health institutions during delivery can reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and improve pregnancy outcomes. In this study, we examined the relationship between the use of maternal health care services and the frequency of reproductive health complications (during pregnancy, delivery and after delivery) in Assam.

Subject and methods

We used data from the third round of the District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS, 2007–2008) which collects information about reproductive and child health services. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were used to understand the relationship between the use of health care services and the frequency of complications in pregnancy.

Results

Findings show that more than half of women reported having any complication during pregnancy and delivery. Post delivery complications in Assam are reported less by women as compared to any pregnancy and delivery complications. It is also found statistically significant that women who received full antenatal care during pregnancy reported less complications during the delivery and post-partum period. We found a positive correlation in the study area between having any complication during pregnancy with higher reporting of any delivery and post-delivery complication.

Conclusion

The study concludes that use of intensive health-care services reduces health complications. Therefore, it is necessary to improve community awareness on maternal health to motivate women to use more antenatal care services to reduce health complications during the reproductive time span.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai for providing the District Level Household and Facility Survey III 2007–2008 data. The authors would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions to improve the paper.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute for Population Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai, 400088, India

    Mousumi Gogoi & Ranjan Kumar Prusty

  2. Department of Mathematical Demography and Statistics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, 40088, India

    Sayeed Unisa

Authors
  1. Mousumi Gogoi
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  2. Sayeed Unisa
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  3. Ranjan Kumar Prusty
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Correspondence to Mousumi Gogoi.

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Gogoi, M., Unisa, S. & Prusty, R.K. Utilization of maternal health care services and reproductive health complications in Assam, India. J Public Health 22, 351–359 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-014-0614-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-014-0614-y

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