Obstetric Morbidity and Health Seeking Behaviour among the Currently-Married Women in West Bengal, India

Obstetric morbidity and maternal death are a matter of great concern in developing countries especially in India. Even after two decades of the safe motherhood campaign, India is contributing the highest percentage (19 percent) of maternal deaths in the world followed by Nigeria (14 percent) (WHO, 2012). Most of these deaths are largely due to pregnancy, delivery and other post-delivery complications which can be prevented through simple institutional interventions. According to the third DLHS report (2007-08), in India, eastern states including Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand accounts for the highest prevalence of obstetric morbidity. In West Bengal, 72.4 percent women experienced complications during pregnancy. Further, there are wide socio-economic variations in morbidity patterns and treatment seeking behaviour among women. This paper will try to determine the socio-economic intersectionality behind obstetric morbidity and treatment seeking behaviour among the currently married women (aged 15-49 years) across different districts of West Bengal. In addition, different factors related to differential access to maternal healthcare services and its utilisation will also be examined with reference to the central issue. Binary logistic regression method has been applied to see the effects of various socio-economic factors contributing to obstetric morbidity and treatment-seeking behaviour. Wealth of the household, women‟s age and level of education, early use of antenatal care services and delivery in a medical setting are found to be significant in this case.