Assessment of the services of ASHA workers on antenatal and postnatal care in a district of western Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

India accounts for 17% of the population, contributes to about 19% of maternal deaths, and 21% of childhood deaths of the world. Antenatal and postnatal services were one of the most important works done by ASHA workers. The objective of this study was to assess the services provided by ASHA workers in a district of western Utter Pradesh to her beneficiaries regarding antenatal and postnatal care. A cross-sectional study was done in four randomly selected blocks of the district with the help of simple random sampling technique. A total of 384 study participants (mother having child up to 2 years of age) who availed services from the ASHA of their village. Data were analyzed using SPSS-24.0, IBM Corp., Chicago, USA. Differences between the groups were compared using the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. <i>P</i> value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Out of 384 beneficiaries of ASHA workers regarding antenatal and post-natal services, only 25% educated up to ≥higher secondary. Most of the beneficiaries (>55%) escorted less than four times for ANC, whereas only 0.5% of beneficiaries received the correct number i.e., 180 or > 180 IFA tablet from the ASHA workers. Only 57.2% of beneficiaries replied ≥6 times the post natal care home visit done by ASHA. Services provided by ASHA workers regarding ANC and PNC were not adequate.