Population Council Research that makes a difference

Population Association of America Annual Meeting
31 March–2 April 2011

Abstract

"Community involvement to increase utilization of maternal health services: Experiences from rural Bangladesh"
Tasnima Kibria, Ubaidur Rob, Moshiur Rahman, and Mohammad Masudul Alam

In Bangladesh, utilization of maternal health care is low among poor women. This study aimed to investigate the effects of community involvement in a maternal health care financing scheme to improve utilization of pregnancy and delivery care from trained service providers. Community members were engaged to select poor pregnant women, create awareness in the community through several behavior change communication activities, and organize regular monthly meetings for identifying barriers and possible solutions to improve the utilization of maternity care. Periodic documentation and in-depth interviews were carried out. Baseline and endline surveys were conducted among poor mothers to document the effects of the intervention. Findings suggest that utilization of antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care from trained service providers has increased significantly in part due to the active participation of community members in the study.

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Offsite link: PAA 2011 conference Web site

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