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Background: Utilisation of continuum of maternal health care services is crucial for a healthy pregnancy and childbirth and plays an important role in attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to maternal and child health. This paper aims to assess the percentage of dropouts across various stages of utilization of continuum of maternal health services (CMHS) in India and also investigates the factors hindering the utilization of these services.Methods: We used recent data from National Family Health Survey(NFHS) encompassing a total sample of 1,70,937 pregnant women for the period 2015-16. The percentage of women dropping out while seeking maternal health care is measured using descriptive statistics. While, the factors impeding the utilization of maternal health services is estimated using a Multinomial Logistic Regression Model, where dependent variable (CMHS) is defined as complete care, incomplete care and no care.Results: Only17% of pregnant women availed the utilisation of complete care and 83% either did not seek any care or dropped after seeking one or two services. For instance, it is found that 79% of women who registered for antenatal care services (ANC) did not avail the same adequately. An empirical investigation of determinants of inadequate utilization of CMHS revealed that factors like individual characteristics, for instance- access to media (RRR: 2.06) and mother's education play (RRR: 3.61) a vital role in the uptake of CMHS. It is also found that the interaction between wealth index and place of residence plays a pivotal role in seeking complete care. Lastly, the results revealed that male participation (RRR: 2.69) and contacting multi-purpose worker (MPW) (RRR: 2.33) are also at play.Conclusion: The study suggests that the major determinants of utilisation of CMHS are access to media, mother's education, affordability barriers and male participation. Hence, policy recommendations should be oriented towards strengthening these dimensions and the utilisation of adequate ANC has to be considered as the need of the hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge of the factors that influence maternal serum screening (MSS) service utilization can be used to develop health policies to promote equitable access to MSS and further diagnostic tests. The purpose of this study was to find the factors associated with utilization of MSS as well as the current status of service utilization in mainland China.Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study with respondents interviewed with a questionnaire designed based on Andersen's behavioral model. Descriptive statistics, univariate analysis, and multilevel logistic regression analysis were used to identify the factors associated with MSS utilization, and to explore potential methods to improve screening uptake.Results: A total of 8110 women who had given birth within the previous 7 days in one of 111 participating institutions from six provinces in mainland China were interviewed. Approximately 36% of the participants had used MSS. Women between 20 and 35 years, who resided in urban areas, were educated, were in a stable occupation, who had health knowledge, who attended maternal preparation classes, who had received eight or more prenatal checkups, who were from a region of higher social economic status, and who delivered in a tertiary healthcare institution were significantly more likely to use MSS than their counterparts. As compared with other factors, insufficient education is the single most important demographic factor for service underutilization.Conclusions: Efforts should not only be made to target the population that underuses MSS, but the overall organization of MSS service delivery should be assessed during policy development to make access to MSS equitable to the entire population of mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]