Factors Affecting Utilization of PNC in Selected VDCs of Lalitpur District

Abstract

Background: Postnatal care from any health facility by means of nursing personnel play a vital role in health promotion through the provision of preventive services like health education, counseling, and the screening of disabilities. Methods: Descriptive cross sectional design was used for this study. The population of the study was married women of the reproductive age group (15–49 years old), residing in study areas, who had a live baby from 45 days to within 12 months old. Total 250 women were interviewed from Asar 2069 to Kartik 2069 at Godawari,Tthiba and Harisiddhi Village Development committee(VDC) of Lalitpur district. Semi structured questionnaires were used and data were analyzed as per objectives. Results: Almost all (95.4%) did hospital delivery. First PNC within 24 hours of delivery was 95.4%, second PNC within 3 days (41%) and, third PNC within 7 days was 13.6%. Only 13.2% performed kegal exercise in postnatal period. Nearly half (48.3%) started FP on 45 days of delivery. The majority (84%) exposed their baby on morning sunlight from the day of delivery. Only 29.2 % kept the cord of their baby dry and 33.2% had put the oil on the cord of baby before falling. More than three-forth (79.6%) started breastfeeding along with colostrums within one hour of delivery. Only 20% had adequate, 59.6 % had medium and 20.4 % had inadequate knowledge of PNC. Only 17% had adequate, 66 % had medium and 16.4 % had inadequate utilization of PNC. There is significant association between knowledge and utilization of PNC, and also ethnicity, education, economic status, counseling by health personnel, and place of delivery. Conclusions: Interventions to create better community awareness and perception about postnatal care through health person have been considered crucial to improve utilization of postnatal care. Keywords: factors; knowledge; Lalitpur district; postnatal care; utilization.