• Prabhu Ponnusamy
• Dr.C.RAMANUJAM

This paper examines utilization of maternal health care services within and across social groups among married women in south India using data from National Family Health Survey-4 carried out during 2015–16. The inequality in Utilization of maternal health care services in social groups, bi-variate and multivariate were performed. Bi-variate analyses are used to examine the nature of association between utilization of maternal healthcare services among social groups by selected socioeconomic and background characteristics. Multinomial Logistic Regression model was used to predict the odds ratio and to understand the prime determinates of those maternal and child health care services utilization. Principal Component Analysis has been applied to construct a maternal and child health care index. Our findings show non-SC women from rural areas are at better risk to use high level of MCH services. In the rural areas the government has been trying hard to reach the women for the last few decades. The findings of the study indicate that the government efforts are giving fruit as rural women are at more risk of using the MCH care in comparison to urban women in south India. The study concludes that there is exist a difference between SC and non-SC women in seeking MCH care. The difference is in magnitude as well as in direction. There is s need on the part of the government to mitigate the difference between SC and non-SC women in use of MCH care.

Maternal health care services, caste differences, NFHS-4 Survey, South India

"UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL AND CHILD CARE AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH NON-SCHEDULE CASTE IN SOUTH INDIA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.157-164, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907E23.pdf

"UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL AND CHILD CARE AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH NON-SCHEDULE CASTE IN SOUTH INDIA", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp157-164, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907E23.pdf