Knowledge and Practices regarding Antenatal Care among the Women in a Selected Rural Community of Sirajganj District

Abstract

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) reduces maternal deaths of a country by maintaining and enhancing health of mothers during pregnancy and childbirth. So, it should be practiced with great importance. 
Objective: To assess knowledge and practices of antenatal care among women of a selected rural community. 
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among women of Nolua and Barabil villages of Shahzadpur upazila under Sirajganj district during the months from July to September, 2023. Purposive sampling technique was adopted and a total of 315 respondents were interviewed through face-to-face interview.
Results: Mean age of the respondents was 26.5 years, 95.6% were house wives and majority (27.0%) passed PEC examination. About 96% respondents heard about ANC and their main sources of information were ‘health workers’ (62.5%), ‘neighbor / friend’ (44.2%) and ‘health centers’ (38.9%). ANC is to be taken for ‘four times or more’ were mentioned by 33% respondents. Regarding services taken during ANC, participants mentioned about Blood pressure measurement (83.7%), urine test (53.2%), blood grouping (948.2%), hemoglobin measurement (45.5%), height and weight measurement (46.2%) and TT vaccination (44.9%). Almost nine out of ten (88.6%) of the respondents received ANC from different places including health centers (37.3%), private practitioners (23.7%), hospitals (17.5%) and community clinics (16.8%). More than one third (38.4%) of the ANC recipient received it for four times or more. Regarding the reason for not availing antenatal care 58.3% respondents did not mentioned any specific cause and other responses were ignorance (11.1%), did not get consent from family (5.6%) and monetary problem (2.8 %). 
Conclusion: This study opined majority of women have some sort of knowledge on ANC. As most of the families want to follow small family norm, each pregnancy becomes valuable. For ensuring healthy pregnancy & outcome, enhancing ANC coverage is a must.

KYAMC Journal Vol. 16, No. 04, January 2026: 192-196.