Birth Preparedness among Women and Factors Associated with Antenatal Care: A Study in Vikramgad, Maharashtra (India) Ashalata Pati 1 Ranjit Kumar Dehury 2 Parthsarathi Dehury 3,4 Abstract Reducing maternal mortality is the fifth goal among the millennium development goals and subse- quent sustainable development goals. Complete antenatal care (ANC) and institutional delivery are two process indicators advised in all interventions related to reduction of maternal mortality. A study is conducted to know the ANC profile of the women and factors associated with it and their birth preparedness for delivery in a rural tribal area of Vikramgad taluka in the Indian state of Maharashtra. A community-level descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the women those who recently experienced delivery of baby. Simple random sampling method was used to select the respondents. The result of the study shows women follow specific practices related to diet, personal hygiene, physical activity and rest with neonatal feeding and care practices in the month following delivery, to keep themselves and their baby healthy. The significant factors found to be associated with ANC visits were the age of the women (p = 0.001), education (p = 0.03), husband’s education (p = 0.002), monthly household income (p = 0.11) and distance of site of ANC from home in time measured in minutes (p = 0.047). Keywords Maternal health, tribal women, birth preparedness, antenatal care, institutional delivery, home delivery Journal of Health Management 20(3) 378–400 © 2018 Indian Institute of Health Management Research SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/0972063418779915 http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jhm Corresponding author: Ranjit Kumar Dehury, Assistant Professor, Health Care Management Area, Goa Institute of Management, Panaji, Sanquelim Campus, Goa 403505, India. E-mails: ranjit@gim.ac.in; ranjitkumardehury@gmail.com 1 Senior Consultant (Child Health and Nutrition), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India. 2 Assistant Professor, Health Care Management Area, Goa Institute of Management, Panaji, Sanquelim Campus, Goa, India. 3 PhD Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (A Central University of India), Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India. Article