Journal of Women's Health Care
Open Access

Abstract

Women Seeking Vaccination-opportunity to Assess Gaps in Post Natal Service Delivery in an Immunization Clinic in Middle Level City, Odisha, India

Sonali K, Mistry C and Sarma N

Introduction: Continuum of care from adolescent girls till their child turns one year of age has now emerged as the mainstay of success of Maternal and Child Care in any country. In India, the frontline workers have turned around the dismal figures of infant and maternal mortality rate by strategic monitoring of pregnancy and institutional deliveries. Yet infant and maternal morbidity issues still plague us and in this light current study were planned among postnatal women visiting immunization clinic in a tertiary care hospital in a middle level city of India i.e. Bhubaneswar, to assess the postnatal services offered to them. Objectives: To assess the postnatal services and gaps among women attending immunization clinic and to derive associations between social, health-seeking behaviour and other factors for the gaps in service delivery. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study done from July to Dec 2016, wherein women with six months and less children were interviewed after informed consent and clearance from Ethics committee. A predesigned semi structured questionnaire was used to gather socio-demographic, dietary and health seeking behaviour details. Results: A total of 134 women were included in the study, mean age being 26.8 years, 91% Hindu, 23% from SC/ST class, 40.2% women were either illiterate or just literate and 24.2% were working. 46.4% were between 21-25 years of age during first conception, 13% not exclusively breast feeding and only 57% sought 4 antenatal visits. 66.7% were anaemic and only 62% confirmed any knowledge on iron supplementation. Increasing age of the mother and urban settings showed strong association with regular intake of iron supplements. Conclusion: More emphasis should be on iron supplementation and counselling during post natal visits.