Determinants of obstetric morbidity and related care seeking behaviour in Nepal

Sharad Kumar Sharma, Department of Health Services, Family Health Division
Bal Krishna Suvedi, Department of Health Services, Family Health Division

Obstetric morbidity is an indicator of maternal health, however, its level and care seeking pattern in Nepalese context is scanty. The objective of this paper is to examine the level, community-level variation and the determinants of obstetric morbidity and care seeking behaviour. Multilevel analysis from a nationally representative survey data indicated that 21 percent of women developed obstetric morbidity during pregnancy and only 65 percent of them sought care. Women living in the mountain were more likely to report the morbidity but less likely to seek care than those living in Terai. While age, education, alcohol consumption and exposure to radio programs on maternal health were significant predictors of obstetric morbidity, age, education, receipt of iron tablet and smoking were significant predictors for care seeking behaviour. Both the obstetric morbidity and care seeking behaviour varied across the communities, however, only a small portion of the community-level variation were explained by explanatory variables.