TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Utilization of Maternal Health Services in Chandigarh and Kalyani, West Bengal, India
T2 - A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
AU - Gupta, Madhu
AU - Kaur, Nimran
AU - Sengupta, Paramita
AU - Majhi, Jitendra
AU - Banerjee, Preetika
AU - Rajeev, Tushara
AU - Agarwal, Smisha
AU - Pocius, Stephanie
AU - Das, Aritrik
AU - Acharjee, Arita
AU - Mehta, Kayur
AU - Shet, Anita
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Federation of Obstetric & Gynecological Societies of India 2024.
PY - 2025/4
Y1 - 2025/4
N2 - Introduction: Maternal health services may be adversely impacted during pandemics especially in the low- and middle-income countries. COVID-19 pandemic was such a situation. Here, we describe the status of maternal health services prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional household-based survey was conducted among randomly selected 820 mothers with children less than 2 years in Chandigarh and Kalyani, West Bengal, to assess the utilization of antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care services before March 2020 (pre-pandemic period, n = 413) and after March 2020 (pandemic period, n = 407). Data were managed using REDCap and were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 25.0). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and significant differences between groups at 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: There was a significant increase in the reporting of pregnancy-related complications during the pandemic (aOR 1.45; 95% CI 1.08–1.94) and a significant increase in utilization of supplementary nutrition services from anganwadis (aOR 1.81; 95% CI 1.33–2.46) during the pandemic. There was a significant decrease in the proportion of women who received financial assistance during delivery in the pandemic period (aOR 0.36; 95% CI 0.17–0.79). Postpartum checkups by healthcare workers significantly decreased during the pandemic period (82.6%) as compared with the pre-pandemic period (82.6%) [aOR 0.84; 95% CI 0.71–0.97]. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed the utilization of antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum services in our study areas. While the existing national program and timely pandemic guidelines helped ensure that some services remained uninterrupted, postpartum care was the most affected possibly due to restrictions of field visits by the healthcare workers. Financial assistance for delivery care was also heavily affected during the pandemic.
AB - Introduction: Maternal health services may be adversely impacted during pandemics especially in the low- and middle-income countries. COVID-19 pandemic was such a situation. Here, we describe the status of maternal health services prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional household-based survey was conducted among randomly selected 820 mothers with children less than 2 years in Chandigarh and Kalyani, West Bengal, to assess the utilization of antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care services before March 2020 (pre-pandemic period, n = 413) and after March 2020 (pandemic period, n = 407). Data were managed using REDCap and were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 25.0). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and significant differences between groups at 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: There was a significant increase in the reporting of pregnancy-related complications during the pandemic (aOR 1.45; 95% CI 1.08–1.94) and a significant increase in utilization of supplementary nutrition services from anganwadis (aOR 1.81; 95% CI 1.33–2.46) during the pandemic. There was a significant decrease in the proportion of women who received financial assistance during delivery in the pandemic period (aOR 0.36; 95% CI 0.17–0.79). Postpartum checkups by healthcare workers significantly decreased during the pandemic period (82.6%) as compared with the pre-pandemic period (82.6%) [aOR 0.84; 95% CI 0.71–0.97]. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed the utilization of antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum services in our study areas. While the existing national program and timely pandemic guidelines helped ensure that some services remained uninterrupted, postpartum care was the most affected possibly due to restrictions of field visits by the healthcare workers. Financial assistance for delivery care was also heavily affected during the pandemic.
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - Healthcare utilization
KW - Intrapartum health services
KW - Maternal health
KW - Postnatal health services
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U2 - 10.1007/s13224-024-02001-8
DO - 10.1007/s13224-024-02001-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 40390925
AN - SCOPUS:85196325078
SN - 0971-9202
VL - 75
SP - 355
EP - 364
JO - Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of India
JF - Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of India
IS - Suppl 1
M1 - e19927
ER -