PMID- 33794920
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20211124
LR  - 20211124
IS  - 1478-4491 (Electronic)
IS  - 1478-4491 (Linking)
VI  - 19
IP  - 1
DP  - 2021 Apr 1
TI  - Does engagement with frontline health workers improve maternal and child 
      healthcare utilisation and outcomes in India?
PG  - 45
LID - 10.1186/s12960-021-00592-1 [doi]
LID - 45
AB  - BACKGROUND: Poor Maternal and Child Health (MCH) outcomes pose challenges to 
      India's ability to attain Goal-3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 
      government of India strengthened the existing network of frontline health workers 
      (FHWs), under its National Rural Health Mission in 2005 and subsequent National 
      Urban Health Mission in 2013 as a strategy to mitigate the shortage of skilled 
      health workers and to provide affordable healthcare services. However, there is a 
      lack of robust national-level empirical analysis on the role of maternal 
      engagement with FHWs in influencing the level of maternal and child health care 
      utilisation and child health outcomes in India. METHODS: Using data from the 
      nationally representative Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-2016, 
      this paper aims to investigate the intensity of engagement of FHWs with married 
      women of child-bearing age (15-49 years), its influence on utilisation of 
      maternal and child healthcare services, and child health outcomes. Our empirical 
      analyses use multivariate regression analyses, focusing on five maternal and 
      child health indicators: antenatal care visits (ANC) (4 or > 4 times), 
      institutional delivery, full-immunisation of children, postnatal care (PNC) 
      (within 2 days of delivery), and child survival. RESULTS: Our analysis finds that 
      maternal engagement with FHWs is statistically significant and a positive 
      predictor of maternal and child health care utilisation, and child survival. 
      Further, the level of engagement with FHWs is particularly important for women 
      from economically poor households. Our robustness checks across sub-samples of 
      women who delivered only in public health institutions and those from rural areas 
      provides an additional confidence in our main results. CONCLUSIONS: From a policy 
      perspective, our findings highlight that strengthening the network of FHWs in the 
      areas where they are in shortage which can help in further improving the 
      utilisation of maternal and child healthcare services, and health outcomes. Also, 
      the role of FHWs in the government health system needs to be enhanced by 
      improving skills, working environment, and greater financial incentives.
FAU - Rammohan, Anu
AU  - Rammohan A
AD  - The University of Western Australia (M251), Crawley, WA, Australia.
FAU - Goli, Srinivas
AU  - Goli S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8481-484X
AD  - The University of Western Australia (M251), Crawley, WA, Australia. 
      srinivas.goli@uwa.edu.au.
AD  - Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. srinivas.goli@uwa.edu.au.
AD  - Australia India Institute, UWA Public Policy Institute, University of Western 
      Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. srinivas.goli@uwa.edu.au.
FAU - Saroj, Shashi Kala
AU  - Saroj SK
AD  - Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
FAU - Jaleel, C P Abdul
AU  - Jaleel CPA
AD  - UNICEF National Centre of Excellence and Advanced Research on Diets, Lady Irwin 
      College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20210401
PL  - England
TA  - Hum Resour Health
JT  - Human resources for health
JID - 101170535
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Child
MH  - Child Health
MH  - *Child Health Services
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - India
MH  - *Maternal Health Services
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Patient Acceptance of Health Care
MH  - Pregnancy
MH  - Prenatal Care
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC8017836
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Antenatal care
OT  - Child health
OT  - Child mortality
OT  - Delivery care
OT  - Frontline health workers
OT  - Health services
OT  - India
OT  - Maternal health
OT  - Postnatal care
COIS- The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
EDAT- 2021/04/03 06:00
MHDA- 2021/11/25 06:00
PMCR- 2021/04/01
CRDT- 2021/04/02 05:37
PHST- 2020/09/28 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2021/03/25 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2021/04/02 05:37 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/04/03 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/11/25 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2021/04/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s12960-021-00592-1 [pii]
AID - 592 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s12960-021-00592-1 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Hum Resour Health. 2021 Apr 1;19(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s12960-021-00592-1.