The DHS Program

What Motivates Women to Act? Perspectives on the Value of and Experiences in Using Antenatal Care in Khulna and Rangpur, Bangladesh (English) 

Document Type

Further Analysis

Publication Topic(s)

Gender, Maternal Health

Country(s)

Bangladesh

Survey

Bangladesh DHS, 2014

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Nahar, Quamrun, Marzia Sultana, Kerry L. D. MacQuarrie, and Rasheda Khan. 2016. What Motivates Women to Act? Perspectives on the Value of and Experiences in Using Antenatal Care in Khulna and Rangpur, Bangladesh. DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 100. Dhaka, Bangladesh and Rockville, Maryland, USA: National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), and ICF International.

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Publication Date

March 2016

Publication ID

FA100

Abstract:

This complementary qualitative study to the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) was conducted with an objective to understand women’s value perceptions regarding antenatal care and how these perceptions affect use of this care. The study was conducted in two purposively selected divisions of Bangladesh, using a sub-sample of women interviewed in the 2014 BDHS. A total of 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with women who had given birth in the 12 months preceding the 2014 BDHS. Overall, most of the women interviewed held a positive view of the benefits of seeking antenatal care; however, some did not find antenatal care relevant for women who were apparently healthy. The prevalence of women’s contacts with the health care system during pregnancy was high, even though the timing and frequency of contacts were grossly inadequate. Most of the women had contacts with community health workers at home, while some made visits to health facilities for services. The type of services the women received fell short of the standards of antenatal care recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), raising questions about the quality of the services that women received. Generally, most women perceived hospitals as a better place for receiving services compared with home services; some considered home-based care as “second best,” when barriers to facility services are considered.