ArticleBMJ global health2019
Are community health workers effective in retaining women in the maternity care continuum? Evidence from India.
Article in BMJ global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Determinants of antenatal care dropout among pregnant women in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of pregnancy intention on completion of maternity continuum of care in Sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Pooled it
- How can human resources for health interventions contribute to sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn healthcare quality across the continuum in low- and lower-middle-income countries? A systematic review.Human resources for health · 2021Pooled it
- Conditional cash incentives, community health workers, and continuum of maternal and child healthcare: evidence from India.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Utilization, satisfaction, and perceived maternal health benefits of group antenatal care in Karu LGA, North Central, Nigeria.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Temporary childbirth migration and perinatal healthcare in rural Maharashtra, India.Journal of migration and health · 2025Article
- Making the health system work for over 25 million births annually: drivers of the notable decline in maternal and newborn mortality in India.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Continuum of care in maternal and child health in Indonesia.Primary health care research & development · 2024Article
- Association between coordinated counseling from both ASHA and Anganwadi Workers and maternal health outcomes: A cross-sectional study from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, India.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- A repeated cross-sectional study of the association of community health worker intervention with the maternal continuum of care in rural Liberian communities.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- Trend of sociodemographic and economic inequalities in the use of maternal health services in Lao People's Democratic Republic from 2006 to 2017: MICS data analysis.Tropical medicine and health · 2023Article
- Article
- Effect of community-level intervention on antenatal care attendance: a quasi-experimental study among postpartum women in Eastern Uganda.Global health action · 2022Article
- A Mobile Education and Social Support Group Intervention for Improving Postpartum Health in Northern India: Development and Usability Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Predictors of the utilisation of continuum of maternal health care services in India.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Is respectful care provided by community health workers associated with infant feeding practices? A cross sectional analysis from India.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Midwifery continuity of care: A scoping review of where, how, by whom and for whom?PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Article
- Exposure to conflicts and the continuum of maternal healthcare: Analyses of pooled cross-sectional data for 452,192 women across 49 countries and 82 surveys.PLoS medicine · 2021Article
- Does engagement with frontline health workers improve maternal and child healthcare utilisation and outcomes in India?Human resources for health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesDespite the recognised importance of adopting a continuum of care perspective in addressing the care of mothers and newborns, evidence on specific interventions to enhance engagement of women along the maternity care continuum has been limited. We use the example of the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) programme in India, to understand the role of community health workers in retaining women in the maternity care continuum.
methodsUsing the Indian Human Development Survey data from 2011 to 2012, we assess the association between individual and cluster-level exposure to ASHA and four key components along the continuum of care-at least one antenatal care (ANC) visit, four or more ANC visits, presence of a skilled birth attendance (SBA) at the time of birth and postnatal care for the mother or child within 48 hours of birth, for 13 705 women with a live birth since 2005. To understand which of these services experience maximum dropout along the continuum, we use a linear probability model to calculate the weighted percentages of using each service. We assess the association between exposure to ASHA and number of services utilised using a multinomial logistic regression model adjusted for a range of confounding variables and survey weights.
resultsOur study indicates that exposure to the ASHA is associated with an increased probability of women receiving at least one ANC and SBA. In terms of numbers of services, exposure to ASHA accounts for a 12% (95% CI: 9.1 to 15.1) increase in women receiving at least some of the services, and an 8.8% (95% CI: -10.2 to -7.4) decrease in women receiving no services. However, exposure to ASHA does not increase the likelihood of women utilising all the services along the continuum.
conclusionsWhile ASHA is effective in supporting women to initiate and continue care along the continuum, it does not significantly affect the completion of all services along the continuum.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.