Utilisation of ICDS Services by Pregnant and Lactating Mothers in India: Evidence from NFHS-5 Survey

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is one of the world’s largest health programmes promoting the holistic development of children and mothers through over 1.3 million Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) across the country. Administered by Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), these centres provide healthcare, nutrition and early education at the village level. The study aims to assess the utilisation of various ICDS services among pregnant and lactating mothers. By using the National Family Health Survey 2019–2021, a total of 232,920 married women (pregnant and lactating) were analysed using STATA 14 software. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association of factors with utilisation of services. The study found that the proportion of pregnant and lactating mothers who received any services was 70.2% and 66.1%, respectively. An increased proportion of pregnant and lactating mothers received supplementary nutrition followed by health check-ups and health and nutrition education, respectively. Among pregnant women, factors such as mother’s age 35–49 years (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.708,0.749), higher education (OR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.708,0.749), having four and more children (OR = 0.90; 95% CI = 0.881,0.928), middle socio-economic status (OR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.276,1.349), rural areas (OR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.866,1.956) and any member of household having health insurance (OR = 1.65; 95% CI = 1.616,1.686), respectively are significantly associated with utilisation of services. Among lactating mothers, the associate factors were 35–49 years old mothers (OR = 0.74; 95% CI = 0.715,0.757), higher education (OR = 0.76; 95% CI = 0.745,0.786), having four or more children (OR = 0.90; 95% CI = 0.877,0.922), middle socio-economic status (OR = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.249,1.317), rural areas (OR = 1.77; 95% CI = 1.728,1.809) and any member of their household having health insurance (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.484,1.544), respectively. Thus, age, education, high birth order, caste, place of residence and health insurance were significantly associated with the utilisation of ICDS services. However, there is a need for more research to develop robust strategies to increase utilisation and improve the overall health and well-being of the beneficiaries.