Treatment Seeking Behavior and Psycho Socioeconomic Impact of Infertility Affected Couples Residing in the Catchment Area of an Urban Health Training Centre, Ahmadabad City: Mixed Method Study

Abstract

ntroduction: Infertility is a serious public health issue and addressing this, is in centre to not only to attain SDG 3 and SDG 5, but also to ensure human rights to everyone. Objective: To document the treatment seeking behavior and psycho social impact on infertility affected couple residing in the catchment area of urban health training centre, Ahmadabad city. Method: A community based, cross sectional, mixed method study was conducted in the areas under the Urban Health Training Canter (UHTC) of GMERS Medical College, Sola, Ahmadabad. Survey covered 689 married women of reproductive age group for infertility (based on WHO field based definition). A total 51 women from infertile couples were interviewed in-depth and were also assessed for anxiety and depression using GAD 7 and PHQ 9 respectively. Results: Out of 51 affected women, 36 (70.6%) took treatment; mostly (88.9%) from Gynaecologists who were invariably from private sector. Out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) for treatment varied highly, from INR 200 to INR 1200000. Out of 51 women, 8 (16%) had anxiety and 10 (19.6 %) had depression. A total 7 (13.7%) of them were blamed by husband or in-laws while 6 of them (11.8%) stated that issue of infertility has affected their sexual life as well. Conclusion: Couples affected with infertility had varied out of pocket expenses and were also prone to anxiety and depression. Due to the social and psychological implications and huge OOPE, management of infertility should be covered under various governmental health insurance schemes.