An Assessment of Essential Newborn Care in India: Analysis of National Family Health Survey Results (NFHS-5)

Background: The first few hours after birth are the crucial period for better growth and development of an infant.Previous research shows that complete essential newborn care is the least explored aspects of the newborn health care in India. Objectives:The study aims to examine the status of complete essential newborn care in India and explores the factors associated with it.Methods: This study uses the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019-21) data.The analysis is based on the births in last 3 years whose sample size was 122,255 women.Four variables viz., the initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of the birth, baby immediately wiped dry and wrapped without being bathed, clean blade used to cut cord and child put on mother's chest and bare skin after birth have been used to compute complete essential newborn care (dependent variable).Results: A bivariate analysis has been used to analyse the very data.The analysis shows that the level of complete essential newborn care was very low.This study also shows that there were discernible socio-economic disparities in practice of complete essential newborn care.The binary logistic model indicates that type of place of residence, number of antenatal care (ANC) visits, birth order, religion, social group and income level of the mothers were significantly associated with complete essential newborn care.Conclusion: Marked inequities in access and utilization of services for Essential new born care was found and major overhaul of the health system strengthening is needed to provide quality essential new born care to all regions.