ASSOCIATION OF ANTENATAL CARE UTILIZATION WITH SOCIAL SUPPORT IN RURAL AND URBAN AREAS OF KATHMANDU DISTRICT OF NEPAL

Antenatal care (ANC) is an important determinant of maternal mortality rate and one of the basic components of maternal health care and is also a key strategy for reducing maternal mortality. This study aimed to explore the antenatal care utilization and non utilization with social support in rural and urban areas of Kathmandu district of Nepal. A cross-sectional study was carried out in two randomly selected urban and rural areas and all delivered women (urban = 188 and rural = 104) with child less than 12 months of age was interviewed with pretested questionnaire in both areas of Kathmandu district of Nepal. Association of ANC utilization with several factors related to society, family members and health services was determined by using Chi-square. Eighty-four percent of the total respondents had at least one ANC visit (rural 87.5% > urban 83%), among the ANC users, 58% had Complete ANC utilization (urban 59.6% and rural 56%). ANC utilization and non utilization had significant association with inspired by mother in law, inspired by father in law, inspired by self, social barriers, household barriers, time factor and health service related factors. The study shows that social supports and the family supports are positively influencing factors for the ANC utilization while different kind of barriers are negatively associated with ANC utilization. Therefore, increase in social support programs like involvement in mother's group, education targeting role of family members and general population on ANC visits and the overall reduction in barriers to the health services utilization should be focused to increase the ANC utilization.