Primary outcomes of the study
| Intervention period (n=1623) | Control period (n=1720) | Adjusted OR/IRR* (95% CI) | P values | |
| Women approached PHC for childbirth; n per PHC-month | 3514/135 (26 per PHC-month) | 3831/180 (21 per PHC-month) | 1.22† (1.17 to 1.28) | |
| Practices before childbirth | ||||
| Hand hygiene before per-vaginal examination on all occasions | 695/1058 (65.7) | 660/1269 (52.0) | 1.47 (1.13 to 1.90) | 0.004 |
| Use of sterile gloves for per-vaginal examination on all occasions | 923/1263 (73.1) | 1100/1340 (82.1) | 0.91 (0.67 to 1.22) | 0.52 |
| Fetal heart rate recording on all occasions | 1125/1263 (89.1) | 1070/1340 (79.8) | 1.47 (1.03 to 2.09) | 0.03 |
| Use of partograph on all obstetric examinations* | 535/1263 (42.4) | 675/1340 (50.4) | 1.63 (1.28 to 2.07) | <0.0001 |
| Augmentation of labour using uterotonic* | 160/1411 (11.3) | 207/1567 (13.2) | 1.77 (1.21 to 2.58) | 0.003 |
| Practices after childbirth | ||||
| Use of uterotonic after delivery for active management of third stage of labour | 1432/1448 (98.9) | 1426/1481 (96.3) | 1.27 (0.54 to 3.0) | 0.58 |
| Placing the baby in skin-to-skin contact with mother within 1 hour of birth | 886/1431 (61.9) | 670/1476 (45.4) | 1.38 (1.18 to 1.62) | <0.0001 |
| Initiation of breast feeding within 1 hour of birth | 946/1331 (71.1) | 756/1390 (54.4) | 1.02 (0.82 to 1.26) | 0.86 |
| Baby dried within 1 min of birth | 647/1448 (44.7) | 400/1478 (27.1) | 1.27 (0.99 to 1.63) | 0.06 |
| Birth weight recorded within 2 hours of birth | 1384/1405 (98.5) | 1412/1439 (98.1) | 1.49 (0.64 to 3.49) | 0.35 |
| Discharge after 24 hours after delivery | 1103/1318 (83.7) | 825/1353 (61.0) | 2.14 (1.60 to 2.88) | <0.0001 |
| Adequate discharge preparedness† | 927/1165 (79.6%) | 582/1249 (46.6%) | 1.79 (1.41 to 2.27) | <0.0001 |
Data expressed as n (%) unless specified otherwise.
PHC, primary health centre.
*The summary statistics is expressed as adjusted ORs for all practices except ‘women approached PHC for childbirth’ which was expressed in terms of incidence rate ratio (IRR). The data were adjusted for secular trend and cluster. As a result, for the practices 4 and 5, despite having lower rates in intervention period than control period, adjusted ORs are in the opposite direction.
†Presence of all: exclusive breast feeding at discharge, women counselled and she is aware of danger signs for herself and her baby).