Janani Suraksha Yojana: Its utilization and perception among mothers and health care providers in a rural area of North IndiaBackground: Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a maternal protection scheme that promotes institutional delivery by providing cash incentive to the mothers who deliver their babies in a health facility. With the purpose of improving maternal and neo-natal mortality and morbidity indicators, the investment and emphasis on JSY is continued. Utilization pattern and perception in the community regarding a particular health program is important to study for assessing the success or failure of the program. Objectives: To assess the utilization of JSY and its perception among mothers and health care providers. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, crosssectional, community based study was Conducted at Agra district of Uttar Pradesh, among 246 married women of reproductive age group who had childbirth after JSY implementation for assessing their utilization pattern and perception regarding JSY services. Perception regarding the strengths and weaknesses of JSY among the health care providers was also studied. Results: Nearly half (53.25%) of the mothers studied had an institutional delivery and were eligible for the JSY benefi ts. Postnatal home visits by Accredited Social Health Activists were done in 48% of home and 100% of institutional deliveries. Nearly half (48.09%) of the benefi ciaries were benefi ted by free transport facility under JSY. Although all of the health care providers perceived JSY as benefi cial for improving maternal health, 44% of them had the notion that cash incentives under JSY can have a negative effect on family planning practices. Conclusion: The utilization rate of the JSY services was found to be low in certain aspects like institutional deliveries, transport facility etc., and there is scope for improvement.
Key words: Institutional delivery, Janani Suraksha Yojana, perception, utilizationOriginal Article
INTRODUCTIONGlobal data show that maternal mortality ratio (MMR) ranges from 8/100,000 live births in developed countries to 500/100,000 live births in developing regions. There is gradual improvement in the scenario in the previous year.[1] In India, the MMR declined from about 520/100,000 live births in 1990 to nearly 254/100,000 in 2004-2006 and to 212/100,000 in 2007-2009. [2] Despite this progress, the numbers of maternal deaths remained high, that is, 56,000 deaths in the year 2010, due to pregnancy related causes, the main cause of which is that a large number of deliveries are being conducted at home by untrained persons. [1] "Janani Suraksha Yojana" (JSY) is the name in Hindi language that literally means "maternal protection scheme." JSY is an ambitious scheme launched in 2005 under the National Rural Health Mission, the Government of India's fl agship health programme. The scheme is intervention for safe motherhood and seeks to reduce maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery, that is, by providing a cash incentive to mothers who ...
