By Neetika Sharma

Topic A comparative study of Rural and

Urban Reproductive Health

Synopsis -
INTRODUCTION TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH:-
Every minute of every day, somewhere in the world and
most often in the developing country a women dies from
complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. At a minimum
515,000 women are dying every year. A huge chunk of maternal
deaths occur in the developing world, making the maternal
mortality statistics with the largest disparity between developed
and developing country.
Thus, pregnancy related problems are among leading
causes of death and disability for women age 15-49 in developing
countries. And government of these third world countries has
given special attention to reproductive health services.
Reproductive Health:-
Reproductive health is defined as state of complete
physical, mental and social well being and not merely the
absence of disease of infirmity in all matters relating to the
reproductive system and its function and process. Reproductive
health therefore is a multi-dimensional and associated with
various life cycle events of women such as menace marriage,
pregnancy, childbirth and menopause.



Definition of reproductive health

Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-
being, and not merely the absence of reproductive disease or infirmity.
Reproductive health deals with the reproductive processes, functions and
system at all stages of life.
The importance of reproductive health

Reproductive health is a crucial part of general health and a central feature
of human development. It is a reflection of health during childhood, and
crucial during adolescence and adulthood, sets the stage for health beyond
the reproductive years for both women and men, and affects the health of
the next generation. The health of the newborn is largely a function of the
mother's health and nutrition status and of her access to health care.
Reproductive health is a universal concern, but is of special importance for
women particularly during the reproductive years. Although most
reproductive health problems arise during the reproductive years, in old age
general health continues to reflect earlier reproductive life events. Men too
have reproductive health concerns and needs though their general health is
affected by reproductive health to a lesser extent than is the case for women.
However, men have particular roles and responsibilities in terms of women's
reproductive health because of their decision-making powers in reproductive
health matters.
Factors affecting reproductive health

Reproductive health affects, and is affected by, the broader context of
people's lives, including their economic circumstances, education,
employment, living conditions and family environment, social and gender
relationships, and the traditional and legal structures within which they
live. Sexual and reproductive behaviours are governed by complex
biological, cultural and psychosocial factors. Therefore, the attainment of
reproductive health is not limited to interventions by the health sector alone.
Nonetheless, most reproductive health problems cannot be significantly
addressed in the absence of health services and medical knowledge and
skills.

Who is most affected by reproductive health problems?

Women bear by far the greatest burden of reproductive health problems.
Women are at risk of complications from pregnancy and childbirth; they also
face risks in preventing unwanted pregnancy, suffer the complications of
unsafe abortion, bear most of the burden of contraception, and are more
exposed to contracting, and suffering the complications of reproductive tract
infections, particularly sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Among women
of reproductive age, 36% of all healthy years of life lost are due to
reproductive health problems such as unregulated fertility, maternal
mortality and morbidity and sexually transmitted diseases including
HIV/AIDS. By contrast, the equivalent figure for men is 12%.

Human resources for reproductive health

The operationalization of the new concept of reproductive health will mean
changes in skills, knowledge, attitudes and management. People will have
to work together in new ways. Health care providers will have to collaborate
with others, including NGOs, women's health advocates, and young people.
Managerial and administrative changes will also be needed because
integrated services can impose, at least initially, greater burdens on already
over-stretched staff and require attention to planning and logistics in order
to ensure availability and continuity of services.
Training for reproductive health workers will need to focus on improving
both technical and interpersonal skills. Additional training, particularly in
counselling skills and in ways of reaching out to under-served groups will be
essential elements of such training. The back-up and support of functioning
referral systems will be essential elements if the full range of reproductive
health concerns is to be adequately addressed.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN INDIA:-
In a developing country like India where the problem of maternal
morbidity and maternal mortality exist since a long period of time and as a
result of these the Government has taken various steps to combat with this
deep-rooted problem. Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Survey is one of
them. According to United Nations for Population Activities (UNPA-2000) the
number of maternal deaths in the country is estimated at 1, 12,000 per
year. India was the first country to adopt the family planning programme in
the world. In late 1960s family planning was integrated with public health
programme and known as family welfare programme. Since then maternal
and child health is an important component of this programme.

PURPOSE OF RESEARCH
Reproductive health programs should focus not only in helping
women to control fertility but also empower women to reduce gender
inequality. The reproductive health intervention is expected to provide
quality services and achieve multiple objectives. The aim of the study is to
critically examine the issues of health communications and services being
rendered at rural and urban level in Bhopal Division. Magnitude of existing
health communication between the service providers and the
beneficiaries will also be discussed.
It will cover issues like the degree of awareness of government health
facilities and importance of reproductive health, perceived sources of
information, frequency of home visit of multipurpose health workers and
visit of beneficiaries to government health centres. The objectives of the
action research programme is also to analyse the interventional activities
on reproductive health, family planning projects, and their impact on
projected population.

1) To conduct a baseline survey and to understand the relationships of
socio-economic, demographic and service factors with reproductive
health status.

2) To study the effectiveness of health facilities earlier given by
government and non-government organization on reproductive
health status.

3) To study the level of difference between the health aspects of urban
and rural reproductive.

4) To identify the problems and attitude of the poor people regarding
reproductive and government health facilities.

5) To ascertain suggestions and opinion of community on reproductive
health problems they come across.