RESUMO
Introduction: It is believed that empowered women can contribute to the health, productivity and benefit of the whole family and community and improved prospects for the next generation. The empowerment of women is a fundamental prerequisite for their health. With better reproductive health practices, women can go safely through pregnancy, child birth and fertility regulations. Objective: The main objective of this study is to investigate whether women empowerment in two study groups i.e., Northern states and Southern states of India is linked with their reproductive health practices. Data and Methodology: The data from the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) was used in the study. Women who were currently married or living with a partner were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between the reproductive health outcomes with the domains of women empowerment and other socio-economic and demographic variables. Results: Women‘s participation in household decision making having slightly higher percentage for a visit to family/ relatives in northern region under study, whereas the decision making in own health care as well as major and small household purchases were found higher in southern region. It can be surprisingly seen that women who justified refusing sexual intercourse to husband were significantly less likely to be assisted by a skilled person in delivery if overall Indian data is concerned, but no effect has been seen in northern and southern regions after the adjustment with socio-economic and demographic characteristics. The women who didn‘t support wife beating were more likely to use modern method of contraception in northern region.
RESUMO
Background: The increasing number of the elderly persons and their health problems has greater implications on public health programs in developing countries. Estimates of health problems of the elderly are required from time to time to predict trends in disease burden and to further plan health care for them. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the prevalent diseases and places for seeking treatment among the elderly in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Data & Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out for the elderly people (60 years & above) and the information was collected in a pre-tested instrument. Using multistage stratified random sampling procedure, a total of 417 elderly respondents were participated in the study. Information was sought on the respondents' socio-demographic characteristics, living arrangements and self-reported diseases suffering by the elderly. Results: Maximum numbers of diseased cases were among females (38.06 %) than males (26.45 %). Breathing problem was found one of the major problems among each sex of the elderly. It was found that more than half of the elderly living alone were suffering from one or more diseases. Most of the elderly of lower and middle social status groups were more inclined towards the private health facilities. About one-third of male and female elderly covered more than 5 kms from their residence to seek their treatment. Conclusion: Breathing problem and joint problems were prevalent in both male and female elderly populations. Social status and age of the elderly play important role in seeking treatment from the private/government health care facilities.