Pregnancy complications and health-seeking behaviour among married women in rural uttar pradesh: evidence from nfhs 3

Improvement in the health and nutritional status of the population has been one of the major thrust areas for the social development programmers of the country. In developing countries like India childbirth is one of the important events affecting health of a woman. Using the unit data from NFHS-3, this paper examined the pregnancy complications among married women and their health seeking behaviour in rural Uttar Pradesh. Bi-variate and multivariate analysis are used to examine the interrelationship between pregnancy complications and use of health care services by socio-economic characteristics of the women. The results showed a high prevalence of pregnancy complications among the women in rural Uttar Pradesh. More than one-third ever married women had reported of having any kind of pregnancy complications. Bivariate results showed that pregnancy complications were reported higher among the women who received more health care services such as full antenatal care, home visit of health workers and visit to health facility. However, the pregnancy complications were found less if any health worker visited to home. The study also reveals that women’s education, economic status of the household and visit by health worker plays a vital role in influencing the woman’s health problems during pregnancy.