Awareness of Government Maternity Benefit Schemes among women attending antenatal clinic in a rural hospital in Karnataka, India

Maternal and child health is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. Maternal and child mortality can be reduced by promoting institutional deliveries. To achieve this, the Indian government has introduced some maternity benefit schemes. The utilisation of schemes depends on the awareness among the beneficiaries. We conducted this study to estimate the awareness about government maternity benefit schemes among women attending antenatal clinic. A cross sectional study was carried out among women attending antenatal clinic in a rural hospital, Karnataka using a structured interview schedule. The maximum awareness was for maternal nutrition supplements under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) (83.6%). The awareness of the schemes was significantly associated with education of mother, socio economic status of family, gestational age and parity index. Source of information was mainly from health personnel (health workers, health professionals), followed by friends and family. Awareness regarding the schemes among antenatal mothers range from 0% to 83.6%.