Men’s Involvement in Maternal Care during Pregnancy and Child Birth in Rural Maharashtra

Abhishek Singh, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Faujdar Ram, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Recent research that deals with male involvement by and large revolves around males’ relation to contraceptive use and STDs and HIV. Other aspects of maternal and child health, such as pregnancy and birth, remain largely unexplored. This paper, therefore, tries to address male involvement to maternal health issues using primary data collected from rural Maharashtra. This paper explores extent of husbands’ involvement and its determinants in (1) providing advice and care during pregnancy and postnatal period and (2) attending birth. The analysis shows that the involvement of men in providing advice and care during pregnancy, delivery and postnatal period is fairly low. The likelihood of having safe delivery is much higher in cases where husband decides the place of delivery compared to cases where other members of the household decide the same. Data suggests an urgent need to involve men in maternal health programs as it has positive health benefits.