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The article presents a case study conducted to examine the effectiveness of the maternity schemes in Gujarat to increase institutional deliveries. It mentions that the study is based on a secondary analysis of community based data collected by village level frontline workers of SEWA‑Rural (SR), a NGO located in Jhagadia block of Gujarat since 1980. It concludes that most of the women who delivered at hospital after initiation of maternity schemes chose hospital for subsequent delivery.

Background: Even though the caesarean section is an essential component of comprehensive obstetric and newborn care for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, there is a lack of data regarding caesarean section rates, its determinants and health outcomes among tribal communities in India. Objective: The aim of this study is to estimate and compare rates, determinants, indications and outcomes of caesarean section. The article provides an assessment on how the inequitable utilization can be addressed in a community-based hospital in tribal areas of Gujarat, India. Method: Prospectively collected data of deliveries (N = 19923) from April 2010 to March 2016 in Kasturba Maternity Hospital was used. The odds ratio of caesarean section was estimated for tribal and non-tribal women. Decomposition analysis was done to decompose the differences in the caesarean section rates between tribal and non-tribal women. Results: The caesarean section rate was significantly lower among tribal compared to the non-tribal women (9.4% vs 15.6%, p-value < 0.01) respectively. The 60% of the differences in the rates of caesarean section between tribal and non-tribal women were unexplained. Within the explained variation, the previous caesarean accounted for 96% (p-value < 0.01) of the variation. Age of the mother, parity, previous caesarean and distance from the hospital were some of the important determinants of caesarean section rates. The most common indications of caesarean section were foetal distress (31.2%), previous caesarean section (23.9%), breech (16%) and prolonged labour (11.2%). There was no difference in case fatality rate (1.3% vs 1.4%, p-value = 0.90) and incidence of birth asphyxia (0.3% vs 0.6%, p-value = 0.26) comparing the tribal and non-tribal women. Conclusion: Similar to the prior evidences, we found higher caesarean rates among non-tribal compare to tribal women. However, the adverse outcomes were similar between tribal and non-tribal women for caesarean section deliveries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Methods: We examined data from a cohort of births that occurred in the period 2004–08 in the SEWA-Rural project area, covering a population of ∼175000, in Gujarat, India, to assess the trends and risk factors for neonatal mortality.Results: In this population living in 168 villages, there has been a significant declining trend in infant and neonatal mortality, more marked in the tribal population, in whom this paralleled a rise in the proportion of women delivering in hospitals. The more important risk factors for neonatal mortality risk to emerge from multivariate analysis are low birth weight, prematurity, young age of mother, older mother and high birth order.Conclusion: Although community based interventions along with promotion of hospital birth has an impact in reducing neonatal deaths in this community, sustaining this momentum may demand more long-term policy interventions to promote better living standards and better reproductive health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]