Reproductive tract infections among recently pregnant women in Rural India. An Evidence from Reproductive and Child Health survey

Rajiv Ranjan, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Laishram Ladusingh, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Women in developing countries suffer from a broad array of reproductive health problems which have an adverse impact on their health, their marital and familial relationships. The pervasiveness of these disorders is apparent from the results of RCH survey of a sample of 1,70,323 recently pregnant women, were studied to determine the prevalence RTI and its association with socio-demographic characteristics and treatment seeking behavior. About 39% of women were aware of RTI and one-third of them were carrying such problems in rural India. Prevalence varied by region, ranging from a high of 35 % in Central region to low of 26 % in the South region. The reported levels of all specific symptoms were consistently and significantly higher for women experiencing a pregnancy loss. This high self reported prevalence suggests that RTI are widespread among all the part of Rural India, and more than two-third had silently carrying this risk.