Health Status and Demand for Health Care: A District-level Study from India

Women are deprived and neglected in all respects, especially in the rural areas of the country. This attitude has a negative impact on their health status. The study attempts to examine the health status of the rural married women, especially for Muslim married women belonging different groups, viz., reproductive group, premenopause group and menopause group. This commentary focuses on health status of rural Muslim married women in Cachar district based on their health indicators. This study also attempts to find the health infrastructure that prevails in this area and the demand for the health care for them. The study reveals that most of the women, especially under the reproductive group, suffer from acute malnutrition problem, while women belonging to premenopause and menopause group face the problem of overweight and obesity, mostly. Due to shortage of health care facilities, there is a high demand for health care. The study reveals that household size, per capita income, distance of the health centre from house, per capita area of house and kachcha house are the significant determinants of demand for health care facilities.