title: Antenatal care practices in Tamang community of hilly area in central Nepal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antenatal care is provided during pregnancy to save lives of mother and foetus. World Health Organization recommends four focused visits as sufficient for normal pregnancy.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to find out antenatal care practices in Tamang community of hilly areas of central Nepal.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Tamang community of Lalitpur district. Systematic random sampling method was used to collect data from April to May 2011. Data of 194 women having ≥ 3 years of children was collected and analyzed in descriptive and inferential ways.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antenatal visits were made by 78.9% (153) of women but only 46.4% (71) completed four antenatal visits. Mean visit was of 3.5 +/- 1.13 times. Ninety four (61.4%) of first antenatal visits attainders completed the fourth visit. Age of women and antenatal visits, taking tetanus toxoid injection and knowledge on work of iron tablets exhibited significant association at 95% level of confidence (p less than 0.05). There was also significant association between numbers of childbirth and antenatal visits at 95% level of confidence (p less than 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a high rate of early marriage and early pregnancy in the Tamang communities. Women did not place high importance on antenatal visits. A large percentage did not complete all four recommended antenatal visits. Use of necessary medicine like iron, albendazole tablets and tetanus toxoid injection was often incomplete.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Dhulikhel Hospital, Dhulikhel, Nepal. sanjel.sn@gmail.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanjel
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Ghimire
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009390:Nepal; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult