One in seven women do not get pregnancy care

The World Health Organization recommends that all pregnant women receive at least four antenatal care (ANC) visits, and that the first such visit should be in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Health News : More than one in seven Indian women did not receive antenatal care during their last pregnancy–nearly half of them because their husband or family did not think it was necessary or did not allow it–according to the latest National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4) data, highlighting the need to sensitise men about women’s rights to healthcare.

Antenatal care (ANC) constitutes healthcare for pregnant women to monitor for signs of complications, detect and treat hypertension and diabetes, provide iron and folic acid tablets and counsel on preventive care, diet during pregnancy, delivery care, postnatal care etc. ANC is provided by a skilled healthcare provider such as a doctor, auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) or other health professionals.

Only 16.7% women in rural India received full antenatal care–at least four ANC visits, at least one tetanus toxoid injection, and iron and folic acid tablets or syrup taken for 100 or more days–about half as many as in urban areas (31.1%), NFHS-4 data show.

The World Health Organization recommends that all pregnant women receive at least four ANC visits, and that the first such visit should be in the first trimester of pregnancy.

The gendered nature of decision-making in Indian households also affects women’s healthcare seeking behavior.

One in four men whose wives did not receive ANC said they did not think it was necessary. One in five men said their family members did not think it was necessary while one in ten said the women themselves thought ANC to be unnecessary. Nearly one in four men said it was ‘too costly’.

A larger share of urban men and their families were more likely to think ANC was not necessary or to not permit the ANC, data show.

While this is intriguing and needs further study, a smaller proportion of deliveries in urban areas were in public facilities (46.2%) compared to rural areas (54.4%), suggesting that private health facilities may not be providing the right kind of pregnancy-related advice to couples.

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Myths and Beliefs about Pregnancy

Some of these myths include theories on how to choose the date of birth or sex of your child or how best to have a fair or healthy baby and much more.

Health News : There are numerous dos and don’ts, advices and instructions that are given to a pregnant woman by relatives and others, especially in India. The internet is also swarming with information and tips, sometimes by gynecologists and other times stuff that are just hearsay. Some of these myths include theories on how to choose the date of birth or sex of your child or how best to have a fair or healthy baby and much more. Unravel the truth and split facts from fiction by understanding the below mentioned pregnancy myths.

Expected mom has to eat for two – This is probably one of the first tips that a pregnant lady hears when she announces her pregnancy. In reality and especially during the beginning of pregnancy the quality of what one swallows is far more important that the amount. In fact increase in diet can make one gain weight quickly without any particular effect on the baby’s health.

Pregnant women have weird food cravings – Watermelon in December or chocolate at middle of night, it is believed all pregnant women get weird and sometimes crazy cravings. But the said phenomenon is not universal, some women feel no particular craving throughout their pregnancy and the cravings are not related to health of the baby in any way.

Round belly means it’s a girl and long belly means it’s a boy – A woman with a round belly is associated with a female birth. And if the future mother has a belly rather forward then it is believed that the baby is a boy. There is nothing scientific in the said assumption; it is just a myth that has made its way in some people’s minds.

If one moisturizes the skin well there would be no stretch marks – If only it was so simple, in fact it’s all about hormones. If one already tends to have stretch marks on the breasts or thighs then there is a good chance that one will have them on your stomach too. But this should not prevent one from moisturizing the skin very regularly, in order to limit the damage.

If it moves all the time, it’s going to be an active baby – Although the baby may be always moving in the belly but it does not necessarily mean that he will be hyper active baby when he comes into the world. Nothing can predict in advance the character of a child; one will only experience after birth what kind of child it will be.

Heartburn during pregnancy means the baby will have lot of hairs – Heartburn is related to the upward rise of the stomach, pushed by the growing uterus. They are more common from the second trimester of pregnancy. There is no relation whatsoever between heartburn and a hairy baby. Simple hygienic diets will help one limit them.

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