title: Assessing the utilization of maternal and child health care among married adolescent women: evidence from India.
abstract: This study explores the prevalence and factors associated with the utilization of maternal and child health care services among married adolescent women in India using the third round of the National Family Health Survey (2005-06). The findings suggest that the utilization of maternal and child health care services among adolescent women is far from satisfactory in India. A little over 10% of adolescent women utilized antenatal care, about 50% utilized safe delivery services and about 41% of the children of adolescent women received full immunization. Large differences by urban-rural residence, educational attainment, religion, economic status and region were evident. Both gross effect and fixed effect binary logit models yielded statistically significant socioeconomic and demographic factors. Women's education, wealth quintile and region are the most important determinants for the utilization of maternal and child health care services. Health care programmes should focus more on educating adolescents, providing financial support, creating awareness and counselling households with married adolescent women. Moreover, there should be substantial financial assistance for the provision of delivery and child care for married women below the age of 19 years.
authors.affiliation: International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Deonar, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Lucky
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Rajesh Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.forename: Prashant Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D016015:Logistic Models; D008393:Marriage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D016387:Women's Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult