Awareness and Utilization of Village Health and Nutrition Day (VHND) Services-‘A Community Based Study’

Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHND) were introduced by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve access to essential maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition services at village level. Purpose of the study was to assess awareness of VHND services among rural mothers in Kamrup district of Assam and to estimate utilization of the services in beneficiaries and any gap(s) thereof. A cross-sectional study with multistage random sampling design was undertaken in rural areas of Kamrup from August 2013 to July 2014 among 387 mothers with infants. They were interviewed using a pre-designed and pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule. 86% of the respondents were aware of services provided in VHND, 73% respondents ever attended a session, 76% attendees availed antenatal check-up in VHND. Only 44% availed postnatal check-up. 77% of the infants were reportedly weighed in VHND. Only 48% infants had their weights plotted in growth chart. 47% beneficiaries attended Nutrition Health Education Counselling and Demonstration (NHED) sessions. Services in VHND were not utilized to the optimal extent by beneficiary mothers in rural Kamrup. Gaps in utilization of services were found mainly in relation to postnatal care, growth monitoring, counselling for family planning and NHED.