Maternal Health Care Services Utilization in Tea Gardens of Darjeeling, India

Background: Since independence, the Government of India has made great efforts to curb maternal mortality and morbidity by introducing various women‑oriented developmental programs. Despite this, India is still struggling with a high maternal mortality and morbidity, which is compounded by low utilization of maternal health care services. Aim: The study is aimed to find out the status of maternal health care services utilization and associated factors among recently delivered women in a block of Darjeeling district of West Bengal Subjects and Methods: A cross‑sectional study was carried out among 953 recently delivered women residing in tea gardens of Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Utilization of maternal health care services including antenatal care during pregnancy, provision of safe delivery and postnatal care after delivery was assessed among them. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 (IL, Chicago, USA). Logistic regression analysis was done. P values less than 0.05 were considered as significant. Results: The utilization of full antenatal care was 48.6% (463/953), institutional delivery 73.5% (700/953) and adequate postnatal visit was 72.6% (692/953) among the study population. The important factors associated with low utilization of services were belonging to Islam, Scheduled tribe, lower socio‑economic status, and lower literacy level of both the husband and wife. The major barrier towards utilization of these services was ignorance followed by distance to the health care center. Conclusion: The present study revealed low utilization of pregnancy‑related health care utilization among the study population; especially in case of antenatal care. The study can provide new insight for policy makers to devote resources for achieving the best possible quality of maternal and child health services.