ABSTRACT
Reproductive health is concerned with the people's ability to have a satisfying and safe sex life ensuring their capability to reproduce with a liberty of making a decision that if, when and how often they have to do so. In Pakistan, culturally females are married at a young age; become mothers and are at risk of health complications i.e. HIV/ STD and STI. There is less utilization of reproductive health services throughout Pakistan that ultimately affects health status of people at very young age. Most of the communities are not aware of reproductive health services, thus not availing these facilities. So the present study was designed to examine the females perceptions, attitude and practices about reproductive health services as well as to determine the level of their empowerment to take decisions and make choices regarding their own reproductive health besides determining the level of the quality, availability and accessibility of reproductive health services and to suggest some measures for policy makers to improve the reproductive health state of young mothers in district Faisalabad. A sample of 600 young married females of age 15-32 years was selected through multistage sampling technique. 2009. Rural and urban area of District Faisalabad. Uni-variate [frequency distribution and percentage] and Bi-variate analysis [Chi square and Gamma Statistics] was carried out. Most [44.0%] of the respondents belonged to age category of 26-30 years; 35.5% were married for 18 years; 39.3% had been married for 5 years; 71.8% had primary and above level of education. Majority [65.9%] had up to Rs.10,000 per month income, 49.2% possessed 6-10 family members, 73.5% had at least 2 and above live children. Majority had the knowledge of reproductive health [67.7%] and HIV/AIDs [54.7%] whereas most of females had no knowledge of STIs [69.8%], RTIs [52.3%] and its development [51.8%]. Most of the females experienced headache [62.8%], swelling of different body parts [61%] and back pain [62.7%] during their reproductive life. Bi-variate analysis showed highly significant relation among age at marriage, number of children, cultural hindrance and age of respondents vs. their reproductive health. Although most of the females were young and educated mothers with good reproductive health experience but still lacking in knowledge about STIs, HIV/AIDS, RTIs and breast cancer that is because of cultural hindrance, early age marriage pattern and male dominancy which indicates that we need to pay more attention towards female education and empowerment and decision making authority status at domestic level through community mobilization with the help of NGOs, Religious scholars and existing health system/ Health personnel's .i.e. doctors/ nurses /LHV/FHW
ABSTRACT
In Pakistan maternal mortality rate is very high as compared to other low income countries. Maternal mortality rate in Pakistan 260/100,000 is the highest in South Asia. In developing countries one woman dies in sixteen from pregnancy related diseases
Objective: This study was aimed to explore reproductive health issues of mothers in Faisalabad
Study Design: A sample of 200 respondents was obtained from Faisalabad city through multistage sampling technique
Period: 2013-2014
Setting Area: Urban Area of district Faisalabad
Material and Method: Uni-variate [frequency distribution and percentage] and Bi-variate analysis [Chi square and Gamma Statistics] was carried out
Results: It was found that antenatal and postnatal care utilization services were poor. Majority of the respondents 79% got at least one antenatal care service but only more than one third 34% got the four recommended checkup during pregnancy. It was also investigated that only 60% women got postnatal visits and only 18% deliveries took place at homes. Two third of the respondents 66% had the positive attitude towards the contraceptive methods for birth spacing. The bi-variate analysis shows that age [p=.003], education [p=.013], income [p=.001], type of family [p=.002] were significantly associated with the positive attitude towards the contraceptive for birth spacing
Conclusion: It is suggested that mothers should be aware of the importance of antenatal and postnatal recommended visits to overcome the reproductive health issues through LHW's visits mass media compaigns and easy assess towards the health care centers
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Adolescent , Adult , Mothers , Maternal Mortality , Prenatal Care , Postnatal Care , Birth IntervalsABSTRACT
Practicing reproductive health rights is not an individual attribute but an outcome negotiated between partners. Large differentials can place the less powerful partner at risk by reducing his or her ability to negotiate safer sexual relations. Negotiation between partners is affected by material assistance which is given by men. Hence, the present study was designed to gauge the extent of practicing the reproductive health rights among married men and women and to see the relationship between respondents' characteristics and practicing of reproductive health rights by them. A cross-sectional survey was carried out from Punjab province. Well designed interviewing schedules were constructed in the light of research objectives and the conceptual framework of the study to collect data and draw inferences. A representative sample of 700 married women and 600 men were interviewed. The SPSS/PC+ 15.0 Statistical Package for Social Sciences were used for analyzing the data. A strong and positive association between the demographic characteristics of married men and women and their attitude towards the reproductive health behavior and those women who were currently engaged in paid jobs had highly favorable and consistent attitude towards RHR-Practices. It was strongly suggested that encourage women's employment by increasing their education level and creating jobs in every department and encourage women's participation in decision making process