What are Common Health Issues Faced By Women in India

Women in India face issues like malnutrition, lack of maternal health, diseases like AIDS, breast cancer, domestic violence and many more.

Malnutrition

Nutrition plays a major role in and individual’s overall health, psychological and physical health status is often dramatically impacted by the presence of malnutrition.

India has one of the highest rates of malnourished women among developing countries. A 2012 study by Tarozzi have found the nutritional intake of early adolescents to be approximately equal. However, it is seen that the rate of malnutrition increases for women as they enter adulthood

Maternal malnutrition has been associated with an increased risk of maternal mortality and also child birth defects. Addressing the issues of malnutrition would have a beneficial outcomes for women and children.

Lack of maternal health

The lack of maternal health contributes to the economic disparities of mothers and their children.

Poor maternal health not only affects a child’s health in adverse ways but also decreases a woman’s ability to participate in economic activities. Therefore, national health programs such as the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Family Welfare Program have been created to address the maternal health care needs of women across India. Although India has witnessed dramatic growth over the last two decades, maternal mortality still remains high as in comparison to many developing nations.

India contributes to nearly 20 percent of all maternal deaths worldwide between 1992 and 2006. The primary reasons for the high levels of maternal mortality are directly related to disparities of economic conditions and cultural constraints limiting access to care.

However, maternal mortality is not identical across all of India or even a particular state urban areas often have lower overall maternal mortality due to the availability of adequate medical resources. For those states where there is higher literacy and growth rates tend to have greater maternal health and also lower infant mortality.

Suicide
Suicide is a major problem in India. The suicide rate in India is five times higher than that of the developed world. Furthermore, the rate of suicide has been found to be higher in women as compared to men in India.

The most common reasons for women's suicide is directly related to:

Depression
Anxiety
Gender discrimination
Domestic violence
The suicide rate is particularly high among female sex workers in India, who face numerous forms of discrimination for their gender and line of work.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a major issues in India. Domestic violence is defined as acts of physical, psychological, and sexual violence against women is found across the world and is currently viewed as a hidden epidemic by the World Health Organization.

As per reports of India National Family Health Survey III ((2005-2006), 31 percent of all women reported having been the victims of physical violence in the last 12 months. However, the actual number of victims may be much higher. The study found that the poorest women faired worst among middle and high-income women.

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