Awareness of PC PNDT Act among Mothers Attending Tertiary Care Centres in Dakshina Kannada:A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: According to the 2011 census report, the 0-6 child sex ratio decreased by 5 points registering 947 female children to 1000 male children in Dakshina Kannada district as compared to the 2001 census. Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of sex selection) Act passed in the year 1994 by Govt. of India was later amended in 2003 with the focus to prevent fetal sex determination.

Objectives: (a) To assess the Knowledge and attitude of PC PNDT Act among the mothers (b) To check association between knowledge, attitude and socio demographic factors

Methodology: A Cross sectional study was conducted in Tertiary Care Hospitals (Medical College) of Dakshina Kannada. Total sample size obtained using prevalence formula was 336. Pretested and validated questionnaire were used for data collection. Knowledge and attitude were graded. +1 was given for the correct answer and -1 for the incorrect answer. Chi-square analysis was done to find the association of the socio-demographic profile with knowledge and attitude towards the PC-PNDT Act

Results: 66.9% had an average knowledge and 70.4% had the good attitude to PC PNDT Act. There was a significant association of occupation, education, religion and annual income with knowledge. The significant association was found between type of family and attitude.

Conclusion: Majority had average Knowledge on PC-PNDT and attitude was found to be good in the majority. There is a need to raise the awareness regarding the consequences of declining child sex ratio.