A study of Rural Women's Health

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, health is not merely the absence of disease but a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. The real meaning of being healthy is focusing on yourself and adopting healthy ways of living. After independence in India, health has been one of the main goals facing the country. There have always been obstacles in bringing health facilities to the rural people of the country. The average life expectancy of people in India increased from 32 years in 1951 to 64.6 years for men and 67.6 years for women in 2011. If we look at the nutritional status of women and adolescents in India, 58% of pregnant women are anaemic. 33% of malnourished women, 30% of married women under the age of 18 and 42% of women with low weight during pregnancy. A study unit of 10 villages has been selected from each taluka of Bhavnagar district. A total of 300 women namely 30-30 rural women from each village have been purposefully selected through Yadachh demonstration method. In the present study, 62% of the respondents have common illnesses like cold, cough, fever, and headache, in modern times, very few people take home remedies during the treatment of the illness, while the maximum number of respondents take the treatment in the hospital. There is a government hospital facility in their village to a small extent, while there is a small amount of private hospital, the government health worker comes to their village to a very small extent, 68% of the respondents say that the doctor comes regularly to the health center of their village, 69% of the subjects under study. The respondent is getting satisfactory advice from the employee. In the present study, more than half of the respondents have to pay the expenses of the illness to their husbands, while less amount have to be paid by themselves. In the present study maximum respondents know about Ma Amritham Yojana but take little benefit of it. In the present study only 8% respondents deliver at home. While 28% of the respondents give birth in a hospital and 42% in a private hospital. In the present study, rural women suffered from many health related problems due to economic factors. In the present study also more health related problems have been observed in uneducated women as compared to educated women. Overhead delivery is very harmful to a woman's health. Rural women have a high rate of miscarriage due to lack of education and awareness or other family reasons that negatively affect their health. Even today, there is a tradition in the rural society that after all the men in the house have eaten, the women eat, due to which there is not enough food left. This leads to malnutrition among rural women and this condition of malnutrition over time creates serious diseases. These health issues arise in villages under study where facilities are lacking.