UTILIZATION OF SKILLED BIRTH ATTENDANT IN SOUTH ASIAN REGION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDIA, BANGLADESH AND NEPAL

Md Illias Kanchan Sk.*, Md Firoz Sk., Ankit Anand and Abhijit Basu Biswas

ABSTRACT

Background: Skilled birth attendant is an important indicator which plays a significant role to increase safe delivery and reduce maternal and child mortality. This study aimed to analyze the practices and determinants of delivery by Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) in the selected South Asian countries. Methods: The world development indicators of World Bank, the cross-sectional data of National Family Health Surveys and Demographic Health Surveys were used as data sources. We used descriptive statistics, bi-variate analysis, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and binary logistic regression to accomplish our objectives. Results: Our findings suggest the negative correlation between MMR, NMR and accessing SBAs services. The utilization of SBAs was relatively lower among women belonged to Bangladesh compared to Nepal and India. In Nepal, the percentage of SBA have increased by 35 percentage points which were higher than India and Bangladesh. Mother’s age, birth order, place of residence and religion had influenced SBAs utilization but wealth index and education status were the major determinants of delivery by SBAs. The odds ratio of SBAs among higher educated women were 8.501 (in 2005-06), 6.041 (in 2011) and 4.580 (in 2011) times compared to women with no education in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal respectively. Conclusions: A large proportion of women in the South Asian region still continues to deliver babies without the assistance of SBAs. The utilization of SBA need to be improved among women with no education and economically poor households. The question remains concerning achievement of development goals and increasing institutional deliveries.

Keywords: Maternal health, Skilled Birth Attendant, Safe delivery, South Asian region.