Levels and determinants of maternal morbidity in Sangli, Maharashtra, India: a community based study

Background: In developing countries, the leading cause of disability in women aged 15-44 years is pregnancy and childbirth related complications. Many women do not die of causes related to pregnancy but suffer severe morbidities due to pregnancy related physiological stress . Methods:  It is a Community based cross sectional study, conducted at randomly selected villages, towns and households in Sangli, Maharashtra, India. Sampling was done by simple random sampling, with a computed sample size of 3200. Study tool was a pre-tested questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done using percentages and Chi-square test. Microsoft Excel and SPSS 22 were used for analysis. Results: The study revealed a high prevalence of maternal morbidity in Sangli, Maharashtra, India. 52.65% women in urban area and 96.53% in rural area suffered from at least one morbidity. In rural area of Sangli, Maharashtra, India maximum of the women surveyed i.e., 30% have primary school education as compared to urban area of Sangli, Maharashtra, India which constitute 34%. A majority of the women in both the districts were suffering from mild complications but the percentage of serious complications is very high in the rural area (15%) than in the urban area (6%) . Conclusions:  In spite of low levels of perception about maternal morbidities, relatively higher utilization of health services during antepartum period should be taken as an advantage for initiating complete antenatal services, i.e. beyond the coverage of women by TT injection and supply of IFA tablets. The governmental initiation of supplying protein-rich food to pregnant and lactating mothers through ICDS programme has significantly lowered the morbidity levels probably by lessening the levels of anaemia.