Utilization of Antenatal Care and Child Birth Weight among Santhal Tribes of Malkangiri District, Odisha

Tribal women are largely neglected to poor reproductive conditions, less utilized maternal care services during pre- and post-natal periods due to cultural practices, poverty, illiteracy, absence of health infrastructure. Aim: The objective of present study is to examine demographical determinants and the factors affecting utilisation of antenatal services and its impact on birth weight of infants of Santhal mothers of Malkangiri, Odisha. Method: Selective sampling has been done for data collection from 210 tribal women from those households, which has at least a child under the age of five using pre-tested questionnaire. The binary logistic regression is used for analysis of quantitative data to find the association between demographics, antenatal care utilization and low birth weight. Result: Santhal mothers those who are having schooling more than seven years, have opted institutional delivery, taken upantenatal checkup more than three times, have followed birth gap of at least 3-4 year among children and have consume at least 70% of IFA course is less likely to give birth to low-weight child. Conclusion: Education, better socio-economic conditions, right marital age and maternal healthcare infrastructure are necessary factors for improvement of maternal and child health status.