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.