Antenatal care services in rural areas of Aligarh, India: A cross-sectional study

The present study was carried out to find out the current status of antenatal care services. A cross-sectional study was carried out in rural areas of Aligarh taking WHO 30 cluster methodology. The required number of villages from each stratum was selected with probability proportional to size (PPS). There were 154 currently pregnant women (CPW) and 248 recently delivered women (RDW), of these, a majority of CPW (72.1%) and RDW (59.7%) did not have any ANC checkup. 65.1% of CPW and 40.0% of RDW had their first ANC checkup in the first trimester. Majority of CPW (53.9%) did not receive any TT vaccination. On the contrary, most of the RDW (73.0%) had two doses of TT vaccination. Similarly, large number of the CPW (75.3%) and 52.4% of RDW did not receive iron folic acid (IFA) tablets. In CPW, weight was measured only in 16.3% women. However, height was measured in 41.9%, B. P. was recorded in 46.5%, The same pattern was observed in RDW. Preferred place of delivery was home in CPW (64.9%) and RDW (81.4%) and mostly conducted by trained birth attendant (TBA). It is concluded that among the aspects ignored during antenatal period, patient education is of vast importance and even a low level of counseling can improve utilization of health services by mothers.   Key words: Currently pregnant women (CPW), recently delivered women (RDW), ANC checkup, trained birth attendant (TBA).