Availability and Equality of Health Services: The Reduction of the Influence of Social Class on Obstetric Health Behavior in Northern Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study attempts to examine the influence of social class (in terms of educational qualification, the occupation of the husband and monthly family income of the respondents) on obstetric health behavior (in terms of antenatal care or ANC visits, the intake of iron tablets, tetanus toxoid vaccination of mother, types of birth attendant, sources of information about obstetric health) in some suburban places of northern Bangladesh. Mix methods have been executed to conduct the present study. A total of one hundred and twenty-five (125) women who gave birth within the last two years have been selected through purposive sampling. Besides ten (10) case studies and five (5) key informants analysis have been performed in this study. As all the variables; both dependent and independent; used in this study are categorical, the Chi-square test has been used to assess the relationship between social class and obstetric health behavior. In this study, a significant association has been found between taking of iron tablets and occupation of the husband (P = 0.026); taking of iron tablets and educational qualification (P = 0.029); vaccination of mother (TT) and educational qualification (P = 0.004), whereas the association of other variables regarding social class and obstetric health behavior has been found insignificant. So the present study shows that the influence of social class on obstetric health behavior has been significantly reduced. It is evidenced that nowadays the effect of social class on obstetric health behavior has significantly faded by the availability, equality-based health services, and services through satellite clinics in the study area. Stakeholders and concerned authorities should give top priority to the findings while developing strategies to improve the condition of maternal health of Bangladesh to acquire the aims of reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births.