Effect of continuum of maternity care on postpartum modern contraceptive uptake among young women in India: Insights from the 2019-21 Indian Demographic and Health Survey

Postpartum family planning and continuum of maternity services are the two most crucial components help to reduce both maternal and infant mortality; still India is consistently struggling with it. This paper therefore aimed to examine the associations between continuum in use of maternity services and postpartum modern contraceptive uptake(PPMCU) in India. The reproductive calendar data were extracted from the 2015-16 Indian Demographic and Health Survey. The assessment was made based on a sample of currently married young women aged 15-24 who had given most recent childbirth in five years preceding the survey. Cox-proportional Hazard models were applied to examine the effect of continuum of maternity services on PPMCU. Results showed that nearly 34% of currently married young women started using modern contraceptives within 12 months following a recent live birth. Cox proportional hazard models revealed strongly significant relationships between continuum of maternity services and PPMCU, even after controlling for the selected background characteristics. Besides, place and region of residence, levels of education, wealth status and parity emerged as the most significant correlates of PPMCU. Findings reinforce the need for implementing integrated maternal-child health and family planning programs towards boosting effective family planning counselling programs among young women during the continuum of maternal health visits by health professionals that might substantially enhance modern contraceptive uptake in subsequent months following childbirth, and this would eventually improve the safe motherhood and child survival status in India.

Keywords: Young women, continuum of maternity services, postpartum modern family planning use, survival analysis, cox proportional hazard model, India