Coverage of Antenatal Care Services in a Rural Area of District Nuh, Haryana.

Background: The district Nuh has been declared as the most backward district of Haryana state and is also listed among the 108 most backward districts of India identified by the National Institute for Transformation of India (NITI) Aayog. National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) conducted during 2015-16 reported that only 6.5% of mothers utilize four antenatal check-ups in district Nuh. This study was carried out to estimate the coverage of antenatal care services in district Nuh. Methods: A total of 300 pregnant women who were in their 1st trimester were recruited from the rural area of Primary Health Centre Nagina starting from January 2022 till December 2022. All eligible study participants were interviewed through house-to-house visits to assess the coverage of antenatal care received by them. Results: A total of 83 (27.6%) participants were primigravida, and 217 (72.3%) were multigravida. Only 25 (8.33%) participants reported receiving full antenatal care services which include early registration of pregnancy (within 12 weeks), a minimum of four ANC visits, at least one dose of diphtheria-tetanus toxoid vaccine, and 100 days of iron & folic acid supplementation. Conclusion: The coverage of antenatal care services received by pregnant women is low despite the availability of free government services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]