Antenatal and Postnatal Care Practices among Indigenous People in Bangladesh: A Case Study in Dinajpur

Antenatal (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC) contact have long been considered a critical component of the continuum of care for a pregnant mother along with the newborn child. The study aims to determine the influential factors related to the practice of antenatal and postnatal care amongst indigenous mothers of newborns and identifier associated with the ANC and PNC contacts for women in indigenous communities. This study was carried out purposefully selected six upazilas of Dinajpur district where most of the indigenous people live and respondents were 223 married women having at least one under-five children. Results found that the respondents had very poor knowledge about their maternal status and literacy. During the pregnancy period, 39.5% and 6.7% mothers had one and two-time miscarriage respectively. Only 43.9% indigenous pregnant mothers appointed to the health center during pregnancy, 27.8% appointed within three months, 13% went at the last stages of pregnancy and 10.3% felt no need to go there. In 69.1% cases delivery occurred at home by inexpert birth attendance. About 10.3% of deliveries, the placenta was removed manually during delivery. About 33% mothers and their husbands (34%) were found illiterate. The likelihood of mothers who received either antenatal care or postnatal care depended on husband’s education level. It was significantly lower for illiterate (OR=0. 247, 95% CI = 0.063-0.969) husband’s compared to a secondary and above level of educated husbands. Distant health service center (More than 2 km from home) was the lower chances (OR=0. 384, 95% CI = 0.152-0.970) for mothers being access to health care service centers compared to low distant centers (≤ 2 km from home). Also, the age of the mother (30+) was another factor that influenced the mothers for taking the service from hospitals or health centers during pregnancy. This study concludes that about one-third of the respondents of the community has access to health care services, which can be one of the most important factors in their poor health. Counseling and proper education can influence people to take antenatal care and visits to the health center to take postnatal care service further.