A household survey has been conducted covering women who were pregnant in the last two years.  The survey is designed to cover the villages under the Round the Clock Women Health Centre (RCWHC).  Women from an area under an adjacent ordinary Primary Health Centre (PHC) are also selected for the survey to analyse the extent to which the women are benefited by the establishment of RCWHCs.  Implementation of any reforms in a particular area also depends on the level of over all development of that area.  Andhra Pradesh is very diverse in nature with respect to demographic behaviour.  Therefore, it was decided to take one RCWHC from a developed and another from a backward district of Andhra Pradesh.  Based on CMIE index of levels of development, Guntur (developed) and Mahabubnagar (backward) districts are selected for the study. 23 villages are selected, which are covered under both RCWHCs and PHCs in the two districts for carrying out the household survey. Four types of questionnaires have been designed for the study. The fieldwork was carried out during August 2001 to February 2002.  At present, a few basic tables are generated for the interim report.  An in-depth analysis of the data is currently going on.

More than 90 percent of the women in the backward district are illiterate and only 6 percent of them are educated up to primary level.  The corresponding percentages for women in Guntur district are 49 and 41.  Median age at marriage is 15 years and that of women from Guntur district are 17 years.  One out of 10 women in the developed district, and 4 out of 10 women in the less developed district are of parity 4 or more.  A health worker visited 50 percent of women in all the villages at least once in the last one-year period. 

Seventy nine percent of women in the backward district and 95 percent of women in the developed district had at least one antenatal check-up during pregnancy.  Those who had not gone for an antenatal check-up, a majority of the women felt it is not necessary, as they felt healthy.  However, one out of every 4 persons in less developed district is of the opinion that it would cost high and their family members would not allow them to go for a check-up.  In the backward district 88 percent of the women and 58 percent in developed district have experienced one or the other morbidities during antepartum period. In the backward district 43 percent and 23 percent of women in the developed district reported to have intrapartum morbidities.  Six out of 10 women in backward district and less than 2 out of 10 in the developed district had problems during postpartum period.  By and large women sought treatment for morbidity and those who did not take any treatment have not perceived it as serious.

Through the Sukhibhava Scheme, the government has been promoting institutional deliveries with an incentive of Rs.500/- per woman.  This governmental initiative has brought a change in the attitude of women, though to a negligible extent, in its favour.