title: Factors contributing to antenatal care and delivery practices in Village Development Committees of Ilam district, Nepal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Proper antenatal care and good delivery practice helps to prevent the complications of childbirth and ensures a wholesome maternal and child health in the future. Almost half of the births in the developing countries take place without a skilled birth attendant.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the antenatal care (ANC) and delivery practices in the Village Development Committees (VDC) of Ilam district, Nepal and to identify the relationship with the socio-demographic factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study of 262 mothers of reproductive age group having at least one child of less than five years of age, selected by simple random sampling, was carried out over different VDCs of Ilam by face to face interview using semi-structured questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 262 mothers, 34.7% were married before the age of 18 years. 69.5% of the mothers had attended four antenatal care visits. Nearly 47% of the deliveries were conducted at home out of which only 33.6% were conducted by skilled birth attendant. Number of children and maternal education were found to significantly affect the ANC visit and place of delivery. Age at marriage and age at first pregnancy were significantly associated with the place of delivery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Large proportion of mothers still do not have adequate antenatal visits and this is supported by the fact that nearly half of the deliveries were conducted at home. Motivation and incentives are required for pregnant mothers especially in rural areas regarding importance of adequate antenatal visits and delivery in health institutions. Population policies should be aimed at reducing proportion of women marrying and giving birth in their teens.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), Dharan, Nepal.
authors.forename: P M S
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattarai
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Paudel
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gaurav
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Pokharel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D008880:Midwifery / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009390:Nepal; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult