Tracking Improvements and Persisting Inequalities in Health Services Utilization for Maternal and Child Health Services in India: A Trend Analysis across NFHS-4 and 5

Gyan Kashyap, Institute of Health Management Research, Bangalore, India
Gudakesh ., Institute of Economic growth, Delhi-110007, India
Allen Ugargol, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B), Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru – 560076, India
Rajendra D, Consultant, Solutionec Pvt Ltd, Karnataka 560048, India

Despite significant progress in maternal and child health services, many Indian states still fall short of National Health Policy targets for reducing MMR, NMR, and U5MR, and are far from achieving the SDG 2030 goals. In this exploration, the aim is to assess the progress in the utilization of MCH services and disparities that exist in terms of utilization of health services and their role in advancing equity in health ailments across time periods of 2015-16 to 2019-21. We examine socioeconomic determinants for the utilization of MCH services. Through analysing the fourth and fifth rounds of India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS), appropriate bivariate and multivariate analysis along with rate-ratio, concentration index, and logistic regression analysis were conducted. Results indicate that 70% of women received ANC during the first trimester, 58% received more than three ANC visits, and 89% gave birth in a health facility. Among Indian States, the North-Eastern and Empowered Action Group (EAG) states witnessed the lowest utilization rates of MCH services. Belonging to the lowermost strata, belonging to the SC/ST caste, being of higher birth order, place of residence, being a Muslim was found to significantly influence the acceptance of MCH services.

Keywords: Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Health and Morbidity, Population and Development

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