title: Reproductive and child health inequities in Chandigarh Union Territory of India.
abstract: Health inequity is an emerging issue all over the world. Some populations living in specific geographic areas may have less access to basic health facilities. Therefore, a sample survey of households was carried out to study access of different population groups to reproductive and child health. Cluster sampling technique was used to select 30 clusters (18 urban, 9 slum, and 3 rural) from Chandigarh Union Territory in India. From each of these clusters, 40 households were selected randomly. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire developed by UNICEF from April to June 2006 by graduate male and female field workers who were specially recruited and trained for this purpose. A total of 5383 individuals were studied in 1200 sample households with proportionate representation from urban (56%), slum (33%), and rural (11%) areas. Literacy rate was higher (94.3%) in urban than the rural (80.6%) and slum (65.3%) areas. About 68% of the deliveries were at home and not assisted by a skilled birth attendant (nurse, midwife, or doctor) in the slums, compared to 21% and 7% in rural and urban areas (p < 0.001), respectively. Fully immunized children at the age of 2 years were 30% in slums as compared to 74% and 62.5% in urban and rural areas (p < 0.001), respectively. Hib vaccination, which is to be bought at a considerable cost, was nil in slum areas compared to 79% in urban and 45% in rural area. Contraceptive prevalence was significantly more in urban (73%) and rural areas (75%) compared to the slum areas (53.4%) (p < 0.05). It was concluded that reproductive and child health service coverage has large differences in various population groups. Special interventions should be undertaken on a priority basis to bridge the gaps so as to achieve millennium development goals in all population groups.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Department of Community Medicine, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Sector-12, Chandigarh, UT 160012, India. madhugupta21@gmail.com
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Jarnail S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Thakur
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D032541:Mass Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011204:Poverty Areas; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012923:Social Class; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data