الفهرس 
introduction and aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
In Egypt, women health is considered as a vital element for community development. So, this study was carried out in the rural sector of Mansoura district, aiming at assessment of the current situation of maternal health profile together with comparing the various utilization patterns among studied population in villages with and those without a health unit. The study was a community-based descriptive one. The results of this study showed that among the studied women 22.8% were illiterate, 17.8% were less than 20 years age at marriage and 82.5% were not working for cash. The majority of the studied populations was related to the very low, low and middle social classes (66.1%) and premarital care services was utilized by only 4.3% of the studied population. Regarding the antenatal care service the majority of the studied women (85.1%) had received it. The private sector was the main source of antenatal care especially in villages without H.U. (68.2% and 51.2% respectively). Blood pressure measurement (91.6%), weight measurement (86%) were the most common services offered during ANC visits. Also about 35.1% of births occurred at home and only 21% of deliveries were attended by Daya. The incidence of Cesarean section was 26.3% among the studied women and it was significantly higher in villages without H.U. than in that with it (36.6% versus 15.4%). Only 16% of the studied women had received postnatal care and utilization of this service was significantly higher in village with H.U. than in those without it (31.2% versus 0.8%). Home visits were the main source in village with H.U. The majority of the studied women had utilized contraceptives (71.5%) and the difference was significantly higher among women in village with H.U. than those without it (79.2% versus 63.2%). IUD was the most commonly used method among the studied women (33.3%) followed by pills (27.9%). In conclusion, presence of health unit has positive impact on maternal health care.