Abstract
BACKGROUND: India has focused on incentivizing institutional delivery and introducing the ASHA worker as a key strategy to improve maternal health outcomes. We examined the determinants of institutional delivery and the role of the ASHA worker in shaping choice regarding place of delivery. METHODS: We used data from the India Human Development Survey-II conducted in 2011-12, and extracted an analytic sample of women (N = 8711) who reported having at least one child since 2005. Logistic regression was used to examine influence of socio-demographic factors, frequency of antenatal care (ANC) contacts and exposure to ASHA worker on institutional delivery. RESULTS: About 15% of the respondents had eight or more ANC contacts. The odds of having an institutional delivery were higher among those respondents who had 8 or more ANC contacts (OR = 3.39, p < 0.001, 95% CI: 2.26, 5.08), and those who had 4-7 ANC contacts (OR = 1.72, p < 0.001, 95% CI: 1.48, 1.99) as compared to those with less than 4 ANC contacts. About 26% of the respondents had any exposure to an ASHA worker. After controlling for ANC contacts, these respondents had three times the odds of institutional delivery (OR = 3.04, p < 0.001, 95% CI: 2.37, 3.89) compared to those who had no exposure to ASHA workers. Further, several sociodemographic variables were associated with institutional delivery. While age of spouse, age at marriage, level of education and urban residence were positively associated with institutional delivery; age of respondent and number of children were inversely associated with institutional delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Both frequency of ANC contacts and exposure to ASHA worker independently emerge as important determinants of institutional delivery. Furthermore, ASHA workers may have a crucial role in promoting antenatal care, thereby strengthening the association between ANC contacts and institutional delivery.