Awareness and utilization of mother and child protection (MCP) card among mothers attending immunization OPD: An urban health centre‑based cross‑sectional study.

Background: The MCP card is used as a tool for pregnant women, young mothers and family members to learn about various types of services which they should assess and utilize. The study was undertaken to see the awareness about MCP card and its components among beneficiaries in urban slum area. Methodology: This is a cross‑sectional observational study done in urban slum immunization OPD with a sample size of 226. Convenient sampling method was used to select the samples. Mothers consenting and willing to participate in the study were enrolled. Results: Observed that the MCP card was issued to majority participants at the time of baby immunization (44.15%), followed by at time of delivery (31.4%) and least number received it at the time of pregnancy registration (24.34%). It is also observed that only 53.54%(121) women had read the card while the remaining didn’t. Majority thought the primary use of MCP card was vaccination record (91.5%), followed by information tool (52.%). It is observed that knowledge regarding pregnancy care and its related complications leads to better utilization of ANC services. Conclusion: As observed in the present study a sizeable proportion of populations doesn’t even read the card, and among those who read it the level of knowledge isn’t satisfactory, many use the card as a vaccination record but still the awareness about various vaccines among the beneficiaries remains low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]