Husband's participation in pregnancy care: the voices of Nepalese men

Vikash Kumar KC, Tribhuvan University
Sirjana Adhikari

Using the data drawn from Nepal Demographic health Survey (2006), this paper examines the determinants associated with husband’s participation in pregnancy care in Nepal. Analyses reveal that a majority of husbands (more than 40.0 percent) accompany partners at ANC and involve in various components of birth preparedness. Multivariate analyses indicate that education and socioeconomic status are positively associated. For example, men with above secondary education are 2.3 times more likely to involve in birth preparedness than their uneducated counterparts. Similarly, partner’s autonomy is negatively associated, while joint decision is positively associated with husband’s involvement in pregnancy care. Therefore, formal and informal education may have positive influence on husband’s participation. Likewise, one of the immediate steps is to develop strategy that encourages couples in joint decision making in reproductive health., which not only promotes husbands to be more involved in pregnancy care but also other aspects of healthy practices.