Around 77pc rural mothers prefer home delivery

Pregnant mothers living in rural areas show preference for delivery at home to the hospital primarily influenced by their senior family members, trained birth attendants and close neighbors, according to a recent study, reports UNB. "A significant number (77.06 per cent) showed preference for home delivery while 22.94 per cent went for hospital delivery," the study said. A group of students of Chittagong Medical College (CMC) under the Department of Community Medicine has recently conducted a study on preference of home or hospital delivery among the mothers of rural community at Mirsarai of Chittagong under the Residential Field Side Training (RFST) programme. The study revealed that majority of the respondents were between 25 and 29 years (40 per cent) who received education up to secondary level (32.94 per cent) and belonged to lower middle socio-economic status were 53.30 per cent. Some 23.53 per cent of the respondents were illiterate and among them 21.77 per cent showed preference for home delivery.