Impact of Temporary Childbirth Migration on Antenatal Care Practices and Quality in India

Alison El Ayadi, University of California San Francisco
Nadia Diamond-Smith, University of California, San Francisco
Dhiraj Agarwal, KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune
Temsunaro Rongsen Chandola, Society of Applied Studies
Ashwini Kalantri, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences Sevagram
Abhishek Raut, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences Sevagram
Nidhi Goyal, Society of Applied Studies
Kajal Tonde, KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune
Sanjay Juvekar, KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune
Rachel Murro
Rutuja Patil, Kem Hospital Research Centre, Pune

Although understudied, temporary childbirth migration is a common sociocultural practice in South Asia where women return to their natal homes for a sustained period during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum. Our team’s prior work and that of others suggests geographic and sociodemographic diversity in this practice, with important potential implications on perinatal care continuity. We sought to evaluate the impact of temporary childbirth migration on antenatal care practices and quality using data from an in-progress longitudinal cohort of 4000 women across three health and demographic surveillance sites in India. We compared provider accessed, health counseling and services received, birth planning completed, antenatal care companionship and payment for care by temporary childbirth migration. This practice influenced antenatal care location, provider, companionship and payment, and impacted certain health care quality indicators. These findings suggest that temporary childbirth migration impacts both antenatal care behaviors and quality and may extend to influencing maternal and infant health. Ongoing analysis will parse apart nuanced influences on care behaviors and quality while accommodating for known risk factors to robustly delineate the pathways through which temporary childbirth migration may negatively or positively impact maternal and infant health and wellbeing.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Internal Migration and Urbanization, Longitudinal studies , Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

See extended abstract.