Utilization of Child Health Care Services in Thana Health Complex of Bangladesh: A Study of Keraniganj

This study is investigated the pattern of utilization of child health care services provided by the Thana Health Complex (THC) of Keraniganj. The overall aim of the study was to identify the factors that are affecting the use of Child Health Care (CHC) services and to provide policy recommendations for improving the utilization of CHC facilities at the THC level. The study focuses on socio-economic factors, knowledge and attitude of the people and demographic factors that are affecting the use of CHC services from population perspectives. Two major killer diseases: diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, and immunization of children under 5 years of age are considered as child health care services in this study. The results show that on average 96.76% of children received vaccination at some time irrespective of level of family income and education of mothers, family income and mother education was found to have positive individual effect on the rate of children vaccination. It was found in the study that higher level of knowledge of the respondents about the CHC service provision increases the use of THC. Mother’s education was found to be associated with the use of THC in particular EPI services and reception of diarrhea treatment but not with that of ARI treatment. Family income has been shown to be associated with the use of THC in particular EPI services. But the rate of ARI treatment at the THC was found to be higher in the lower income families. Knowledge and attitude about the CHC services at the THC was found to be positively related with family income and education of mothers. The findings show significant association between distance and use of THC.