Abstract & Overview
Antenatal care (ANC) is very important intervention needed for management of normal cases of pregnancy as well as for screening and detection of complications at an earlier stage so as to manage them effectively in time.This article has tried to highlight the factors that are proved to be the driving and restraining forces in accessing antenatal care services in India and how it influences the women to take decision for the place of delivery (home or institutional).A mixed method approach was applied to 320 women from 16 villages of Ganjam and Gajapati districts of Odisha.Indepth interviews were carried out till data saturation was observed at 10 with women having child of less than one year.10 Focus Group Discussion were conducted with an average of 8 women in each group having a child of less than 5 years of age, and with the community.In-depth interview of women regarding their antenatal checkups revealed that 55.63% had visited the ANC clinics 3 or more times, 42% were primi and 58% were multipara.A large mass of population still had not taken full antenatal checkup in-spite of all the available health facilities at their door step.The infrastructure of the government health facilities needs improvement.Access to health services has to be guaranteed to all people irrespective of rural or urban divide.Where patriarchal traditional values still prevail, it is often difficult for women, to use health services unless the provided services are culturally acceptable in practice.The most important and challenging need of the hour is 'women empowerment' in the society to access their rights.