Assessment of reproductive health service utilization in urban slums:Evidence from Western Rajasthan

Abstract

Objective: To assess the utilization of reproductive health services in urban slum of Jodhpur city, India.

Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban slums of Jodhpur city amongst 300 married women of reproductive age between March and June 2021. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather demographic data and information about utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services, delivery and post-partum services.

Results: The majority of females were aged less than 25 years (n=195; 65.0%), married after 18 years (n=240; 80%), living in extended families (n=265; 88.3%) and with monthly family income less than 10000 rupees (n=182; 60.7%). Statistically significant associations were found between ≥4 ANC visits and educational level of secondary and above (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.03-6.28; P=0.04), older age (OR 15.70, 95% CI 14.87-16.54 for women aged 26-35 years, OR 16.14, 95% CI 12.12-20.01 for women aged ≥36 years; P<0.01), and backward and general castes (OR 15.91, 95% CI 13.57-17.85 for backward caste and OR 8.11, 95% CI 8.07-8.26 for general category of caste; P<0.01). Seven percent of females had undergone parturition. Older age was associated with higher risks of postpartum complications (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.57 for women aged 26-35 years, OR 3.56, 95% CI 1.29-4.69 for women aged ≥36 years; P<0.01). In addition, risks of postpartum complications were associated with backward and general castes (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.34-2.13 for backward classes and OR 5.01, 95% CI 4.29-5.31 for general category castes; P<0.01), and more than 4 ANC visits (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.09-0.34; P<0.01).

Conclusions: More frequent ANC visits are associated with a lower risk of postpartum complications. Furthermore, a high utilization of reproductive health services represents good implementation of reproductive and child health programme at the peripheral level resulting in a stark rise in maternal health indicators in the state of Rajasthan.

Keywords

Female / Pregnancy / Maternal health / Maternal health services / Prenatal care / Postpartum period / Facilities and services utilization / Health services accessibility

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding

This study received no extramural funding.

Authors’ contributions

Jyoti Sharma was involved in data curation, formal analysis, investigation, validation and writing original draft. Nitin Kumar Joshi was involved in conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, resources, supervision, and review. Yogesh Kumar Jain was involved in methodology, use of statistical software, visualization, writing of original draft, review and editing. Pankaj Bhardwaj was involved in conceptualization supervision, resources, validation and review. Kuldeep Singh was involved in supervision, validation and final review.

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