Synergy between women’s empowerment and maternal and peri-natal care utilization

Princy Yesudian, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

This paper highlights that the causes for the high mortality and perinatal deaths lie in the social fabric of the Indian society, where women are not empowered to take decisions governing their own health. The objective of the paper is to explore the root-cause of maternal and peri-natal mortality in India by examining the social context within which decisions are made to utilize health services. Thus this paper correlate social determinants with that of utilization of ante-natal care and institutional deliveries. The data from India’s latest DHS survey, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) conducted during 2005-06 is used. Some indices like empowerment, autonomy and attitude, are used to determine whether these factors impact on the utilization of antenatal care and institutional delivery. Only the 10,721 women who have had a live birth one year prior to the survey are selected for this study. Their healthcare utilization pattern for their latest birth is used for this paper.