| Summary: | Various programs for safe motherhood aiming to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality are undertaken by public sectors as well as the NGOs. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the married women in their reproductive age (15-40y) belonging to 211 households of Shitlai village of Kahalu Thana of Bogra district in Bangladesh from January to April 2007. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, data were collected by door-to-door visits and through face-to-face interviews with the respondents. Considering the knowledge on safe motherhood and safe delivery, majority of the respondents (98.6%) mentioned that every pregnant mother should receive antenatal care, and 97.6% said that pregnancy is a period of risk. Regarding safety, 96.2% mentioned hospital delivery as safe, while 80.6% mentioned home delivery as a risk. Among the respondents, 70.1% said that ANC is important, 29.9% was found to be informed of child birth complications, 16.1% knew the duration of pregnancy, 8.1% knew the danger signs of pregnancy, 4.7% about emergency obstetric care (EOC), 4.3% about expected date of delivery (EDD), 2.4% about safe motherhood and 28.4% about the access of health facilities in the village. Among the respondents, 85.3% showed a positive attitude towards hospital delivery while 14.7% had a negative attitude. Study also showed that majority of the respondents (66.8%) had delivered at home, and only onefourth of the respondents delivered their index child in a hospital. Thus the study recommends to improve the knowledge, economic status, to change the decision making process through the launching of different activities with appropriate health programmes.
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