Assessment of the services of ASHA workers on antenatal and postnatal care in a district of western Uttar Pradesh, India

CONTEXT: India accounts for 17% of the population, contributes to about 19% of maternal deaths, and 21% of childhood deaths of the world. Antenatal and postnatal services were one of the most important works done by ASHA workers. AIMS: The objective of this study was to assess the services provided by ASHA workers in a district of western Utter Pradesh to her beneficiaries regarding antenatal and postnatal care. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was done in four randomly selected blocks of the district with the help of simple random sampling technique. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 384 study participants (mother having child up to 2 years of age) who availed services from the ASHA of their village. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data were analyzed using SPSS-24.0, IBM Corp., Chicago, USA. Differences between the groups were compared using the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Out of 384 beneficiaries of ASHA workers regarding antenatal and post-natal services, only 25% educated up to ≥higher secondary. Most of the beneficiaries (>55%) escorted less than four times for ANC, whereas only 0.5% of beneficiaries received the correct number i.e., 180 or > 180 IFA tablet from the ASHA workers. Only 57.2% of beneficiaries replied ≥6 times the post natal care home visit done by ASHA. CONCLUSION: Services provided by ASHA workers regarding ANC and PNC were not adequate.