10

Assessment of awareness level of rural mothers aboutServices of National Rural Health Mission in

West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya

Steffi R Marak, Sanghamitra Mohapatra and Anita Singh

ABSTRACTHealth is a vital indicator of human development. India, especially rural India, is unique in itself. Most of the people of India live in ruralareas and are caught by multitudes of problems; out of them health problem poses an immediate challenge. The tribes of Meghalaya arelargely matrilineal.The health indicator reflecting the condition of women has not been too encouraging. The health indicator of womenin the state reflects the poor state of affairs.The achievements in the field of the poor performance of the Indian Public Health System arewidely acknowledged. After groping with the challenges for decades, the planners have come up with a comprehensive mission-orientedapproach to revamp the rural healthcare delivery system, which was aptly named as National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Therefore,a study was carried out to find out their awareness level of rural mothers about the activities of National Rural Health Mission. MeghalayaState was selected purposively for the study because the data was collected from four villages. A self made interview schedule wasadministrated to find out the awareness level of rural mothers about National Rural Health Mission. Major finding revealed that cent percent of the rural women were aware of the facts that hospital delivery is better than home delivery and all the rural women preferredhospital delivery as it is very safe.

Key words: awareness level, National Rural Health Mission, rural women

INTRODUCTIONHealth is primarily a personal responsibility and demands

personal care to enjoy it. Health is an essential requirement ofall, irrespective of age, caste, creed, race, religion and economicstandard. Health means not the mere absence of disease but it isthe "complete state of the physical, mental and social wellbeing".Health of an individual can be affected by general health conditionof the society and vice-versa. Therefore, health of the communityneeds higher attention while considering the development of aregion or a country (Vani, 2007).

Every minute of life every day, somewhere in the worldand most often in developing country, a woman dies fromcomplication related to pregnancy or childbirth. For everywoman who dies, 30 to 50 per cent women suffer from injury,infection, or disease. Pregnancy-related complications areamong the leading causes of death and disability for women aged15-49 in developing countries. More than a decade of researchhad shown that small and affordable measures can significantlyreduce the health risks that women face when they becomepregnant. Majority of the maternal deaths could be prevented ifwomen had access to proper health care during pregnancy,childbirth and immediately afterwards childbirth (Chandavari andBadiger, 2013).

Rural Health Care forms an integral part of the National HealthCare System. Provision of Primary Health Care is the foundationof all rural health care Programmes. For developing vast publichealth infrastructure and human resources of the country,accelerating the socio-economic development and attaining

M.Sc. Student, Assistant Professor (Sr. Scale) and Head, Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Extension Education and Communication Management

Ethelind College of Home Science,Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology And Sciences Prayagraj (Allahabad) – 211007 (U.P.)

improved quality of life, the Primary health care is accepted asone of the main instruments of action. Thus, recognizing theimportance of Health in the process of economic and socialdevelopment and improving the quality of life of our citizens, theGovernment of India has launched the National Rural HealthMission to carry out necessary architectural correction in thebasic health care delivery system. The Mission adopts asynergistic approach by relating health to determinants of goodhealth viz. segments of nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and safedrinking water. It also aims at mainstreaming the Indian systemsof medicine to facilitate health care (Bhatnagar and Pamega,2012).

METHODOLOGYThe present study was conducted during the year 2014 in West

GaroHills district of Meghalaya state. Purposive samplingtechnique was used for selection of four villages in West GaroHills district i.e. Asananggre, Babadam, Garobadha and Selsellawhere the Community Health Centre and Primary Health Centresare located. Purposive sampling procedure was used for selectionof 120 respondents i.e. 120 Rural mothers. Keeping in mind theobjectives of study, an interview schedule was structured. Basedon the experience gained in pre-testing, the schedule was modifiedand standardized. Using this interview schedule, the required datawas collected by personal interview method. Data was coded,tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using suitable statistical toolsviz., frequency and percentage.

The Allahabad Farmer, Vol. LXXV, No. 2, April - June, 2019

Received 16-09-2014Accepted 02-04-2019

11

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe table 1 shows that cent per cent of the mothers are aware

of Janani Suraksha Yojana, pulse polio vaccination immunizationfor mothers (Universal immunization) and about TT (TetanusToxoid) injection to be taken during 2nd and 3rd trimester. JananiSuraksha Yojana, followed by (80.83%) knows about folic acidsupplementation for mothers and Family Planning have alsogained significant popularity with (64.16%) mothers. A similarfinding is also reported by (Kumar and Sharma, 2009) onNational Rural Health Mission. Because of this mission mode,the execution moved at a fast pace and the professional,systematic approach adopted in the mission has shown its impact,abit delayed and diverse. The single most visible impact has beenon the Janani Suraksha Yojana, in terms of the increase in thenumber of institutional deliveries across the country.

Table 1:Distribution of mothers according to their generalawareness about the selected health programmes.(N=120)

Sl No. Programmes Frequency Percentage1. Janani Suraksha Yojana 120 1002. Weekly Iron Folic Acid 97 80.83

Supplementation programme3. Universal Immunization 120 100

Programme4. Family planning 77 64.17

Table 2.Awareness of the rural mothers about facilitiesprovided by the selected health programmes. (N=120)

S.N. Statements Aware NotAware

1. ASHA/ANM registers name after 80 40pregnancy was confirmed? (66.67%) (33.33%)

2. ANM examines respondents BP 67 53and abdomen atleast four times (55.83%) (44.17%)prior to your delivery.

3. ASHA/ANM gives folic acid 75 45tablets to the respondents (62.50%) (37.50%)

4. Apart from B-complex tablets - 120was there any other tablet given - (100%)to the respondent.

5. ANM gives TT injections 120 -according to schedule (100%) -

6. ANM examines blood and urine 120before delivery. (100%) -

7. ASHA/ANM refers respondents 90 30to PHC or CHC for delivery. (75%) (25%)

8. Did you pay any amount to ANM - 120in the PHC/CHC to get the allowance - (100%)of Janani Suraksha Yojana?

9. Do you prefer hospital delivery? 120 -(100%)

Field level health workers ASHAs (Accredited Social HealthActivists) contribution is appreciable for the success of theseprogrammes. She is giving counselling to the rural mothers aboutpulse polio, immunization for mothers, creating awareness aboutthe Janani Suraksha Yojana Programme incentives, monthlyhealth checkups and immunization.

Table 3: Distribution of respondents according to theirawareness level. (N=120)

Sl No. Awareness level Frequency Percentage1. Fully Aware (21-28) - -2. Partially Aware (29-35) 50 41.673. Less Aware (36-42) 70 58.33

Total 120 100.00

S.N. Statements Aware NotAware

10. The field level worker ASHA 82 38accompanies you to the (68.33%) (31.67%)government hospital.

11. After normal delivery in the 82 38Government hospital under JSY (68.33%) (31.67%)every mother gets Rs.700/- in theform of cheque.

12. Did you face any harassment - 120while getting this amount? - (100%)

13 Did ASHA help you in 120 -conducting pregnancy test? (100%) -

14. Did you face any harassment - 120while availing the facilities? - (100%)

15. At government health centre's - 120refused to give treatment for - (100%)beneficiaries.

16. Beneficiaries have suffered from 17 103rude behavior of staff of (14.17%) (85.83%)government hospital?

17. ASHA/ANM organize monthly 110 10health check up, immunization (91.67%) (8.33%)and other health services in time

18. ASHA provides medicines for 120 -simple illness like cold, cough, (100%) -diarrhea, fever etc.

19. ASHA guides on the basis of 120 -pregnancy test. (100%) -

20. Did you take oral pills given by 101 19ASHA for birth control? (84.17%) (15.83%)

21. ASHA guides to take care of 120 -your new born baby. (100%) -

Table- 3 elucidates that cent percent of mothers were awareabout safe hospital delivery and ANM (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife)giving TT injections according to schedule, ANM examiningblood and urine before delivery, ASHA providing medicines forsimple illness, ASHA/ANM organize monthly health check upfollowed by immunization and other health services in time(91.66%) and the village level worker (ASHA) Accredited SocialHealth Activist) give birth control oral pills for rural mothers(84.16%). While availing the facilities the total awareness indexof rural mothers was medium that is 61.26 per cent.

The reasons for majority in the low awareness category mightbe due to their low level of education, less social participationand less exposure to mass media. All these factors might havecontributed for this kind of trend. Because of this in table3mothers exhibited low level awareness.

Steffi R Marak, Sanghamitra Mohapatra and Anita Singh

12

CONCLUSIONIt is concluded from the study that the selected rural mothers

were aware about Janani Suraksha Yojana and UniversalImmunization Programme under National Rural Health Mission.Cent percent of the mothers were aware about safe hospitaldelivery, ANM giving TT injections according to schedule, ANMexamining blood and urine before delivery, ASHA providingmedicines for simple illness, ASHA/ANM organize monthlyhealth check up followed by immunization and other healthservices in time. The higher the awareness level the greater werethe utilization of the facilities like JananiSurakshaYojana, weeklyiron folic acid supplementation, universal immunization and familyplanning programmes that are being availed by them in theirnearest health centres.

RECOMMENDATIONS /SUGGESTIONS FORFUTURE LINE OF WORK1. To enhance the level of awareness there is a need to conduct

camps and workshops at village and district levels for themembers of the whole family and intensified educational effortsby local health agents must be made.

REFERENCESBhatnagar, K,S and Pamega, N (2012). A final report on

evaluation of National Rural Health Mission inMeghalaya. pp 8-20.

Chandavari V.M and Badiger, C (2013). Impact of NationalRural Health Mission on rural mothers and children.Karnataka Journal of Agriculture Science , 26(1).Pp 133-137.

Sahu, B.P. and Kumar, S., (2012), Transforming Rural Health Care:Evidences from NRHM in Meghalaya. InternationalJournal of Research in IT & Management , 12(2)pp 53-67.

Vani, P.K., (2007), A study on knowledge and adoption ofselected health and nutritional practices by rural womenin Belgaum district, Karnataka. M.Sc. (Agri) Thesis, Uni.Agric. Sci. Dharwad (India). pp 45-47.

The Allahabad Farmer, Vol. LXXV, No. 2, April - June, 2019