Maternal and Child Health Care Practices in Tharu Community (A Study of Tharu Community in Chandranagar VDC, Sarlahi District)

Abstract

The study on "Maternal and Child Health Care Practices in TharuCommunity" is carried out based on primary data collected from theChandra Nagar VDC, Sarlahi district. The main objectives of the studyare to examine the knowledge and practices of maternal and child healthcare among the Tharu community, to examine the modern as well astraditional maternal and child health care practice among the Tharucommunity and to assess the socio-economic and demographiccharacteristics of the Thru community. The total population in this study is 713 of which 390 are males and 323are females. The sex ratio is found to be 120.7. Among 138 respondents,89.1 percent females are illiterate as against 79.7 percent among theirhusbands. The main occupation of husband and wife is agriculture.Almost all of their husbands are involved in agriculture. Age at marriageof respondents was early age which was most prevailing in thecommunity. In the case of maternal health care, the age group 20-24 years receivedantenatal services most during last pregnancy (31.2%). The coverage ofTT is 23.2 percent only. Most of the children are delivered at home(94.2%) with assistance of TBA which comprises 52.2 percent amongpersons assisted during delivery. Majority of respondents use usual food(99.3%). Most of the respondents breastfed for one to two years, that is67.4 percent. Most of the Tharu women (98.6%) used herbs to treat disease. Onion,garlic, ginger are very popularamong Tharu women. Child immunizationpractice is good but measles and polio are less common than BCG andDPT. Even though, most of the Tharu women used herbs to treatdiarrhoea, they used the Jeevan Jal also. The overall observation of thestudy revealed that the MCH care practice is related with mother's age,education and knowledge of use of medicine. In Tharu society, 64.5percent respondents used contraceptive methods. 5