What is the state of awareness of Janani Suraksha Yojna in Aligarh: a comparison between Rural and Urban Areas.

Background: Maternal mortality and morbidity continues to remain high in India, despite the existence of successive national programs for improving maternal and child health since the 1980s. In 2005, the Government of India launched the National Rural Health Mission to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable populations. Reduction in MMR to 100/100,000 is one of its goals and the Janani Suraksha Yojana is the key strategy to achieve this reduction. But the awareness of scheme is low in women from rural areas and urban slums, especially in low performing states. Aims: To study the comparative awareness of JSY and the socio-demographic factors influencing it, among the recently delivered women (RDWs). Methodology: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in the ten rural areas and urban slums coming under the practice areas of JNMC, AMU, Aligarh for a period of one year. The prevalence of institutional delivery in Uttar Pradesh as found in a study by UNFPA 2008 (50.2%) was used for calculation of sample size. The yielded sample size 300 was selected proportionately from these areas. The study subjects were interviewed by a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. Statistical analysis used: MS excel, chi square and logistic regression. Results: Awareness regarding the existence of a monetary scheme related to institutional delivery was more in rural areas i.e 75%. Regarding components of JSY maximum people (78%) were aware about the cash component. Religion, caste, parity, socio-economic status and place of residence showed a significant statistical association with the level of awareness of JSY. Conclusions: There is an urgent need to strengthen IEC campaigns and monitoring strategies for JSY as well as regularize the monetary flow for the health workers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]