Sociological Analysis of Maternal Healthcare in Madhya Pradesh India

Reducing maternal mortality ratio forms one of the objectives of Millennium Development Goal (MDG-5). Institutional delivery has been promoted to curtail the high MMR in India; however, there are barriers which prevent the use of institutional deliveries among the women especially in the rural areas. These barriers are believed to be essentially borne out of their perception about childbirth which influences their choice of the place of delivery. The objectives of the study comprise of conducting a sociological analysis of the perception of mothers in regard to institutional delivery and the provisions of healthcare in the select district of Madhya Pradesh and to study the various factors that influences the perception of the mothers towards institutional delivery and help formulate suitable intervention on reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio on the basis of understanding the perception of the mothers. The research project is conducted in a select district of Madhya Pradesh. The study involves both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis employing both statistical analysis as well as content analysis. A sample size of one hundred and twenty has been selected from the age group of 15-49 who have children of five years and below. Purposive sampling is used to select the samples. Research tools such as questionnaire and interview are used to collect the data. The study brings out cases of divergence in the provisions of public and private healthcare. The paper asserts on the pertinent need to look at the socio-cultural factors that determine maternal healthcare while designing a policy as there is a tendency to disregard them.