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Female literacy: An important determinant of women’s health
- AnandaGiri M Shankar, Sudarshan M K, Principal and Professor of Community Medicine,Department of Community Medicine, Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, KR Road, VV Puram, Bangalore-560004, India, Sam Ramaiah, Director of Public Health Medicine and Medical Director (18 December 2006)
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AnandaGiri M Shankar, Specialist Registrar in Public Health Medicine Department of Public Health, Walsall Teaching Primary Care Trust, Walsall WSI ITE, Sudarshan M K, Principal and Professor of Community Medicine,Department of Community Medicine, Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, KR Road, VV Puram, Bangalore-560004, India, Sam Ramaiah, Director of Public Health Medicine and Medical Director
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giri.shankar{at}walsall.nhs.uk AnandaGiri M Shankar, et al.
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Dear Sir, The article by Mohindra SK et al brings about clearly the effect of caste and socioeconomic position on women’s health [1]. If this is the case in Kerala, which is one of the states with good health indicators in India, one can imagine what it would be with more poorer and deprived states in India. We believe that along with socioeconomic status and caste, female literacy is one of the key determinants of women's health in general and Sexual and Reproductive Health in particular. In order to demonstrate this and add more to what has been highlighted in the article we present data from select Indian states. The table compares the literacy rates, contraceptive use and birth order of 3 or more, in eight states of India. The states are grouped into two categories based on the literacy status. One can observe that as the literacy status improves so would the contraceptive use and as a consequence of that the birth order would decrease (Table 1). Lack of education can have detrimental effects to change in demographics as well. For example, it has been observed in India that the literacy rate among Hindus is 65.1% while that among Muslims is 59.1% and one can draw a relationship of this to the fact that growth rate of Hindus have decreased from 23.7% in 1961-71 to 20.3% in 1991-2001, whereas that for the Muslims have increased from 30.8% to 36.0% during the same period. [2] We believe that it is important to empower women with education to help them make healthier choices about their health. References 1. Mohindra S K, Haddad S and Narayana D. Women’s health in a rural community in Kerala, India: do caste and socioeconomic position matter. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Dec 2006; 60;19:1020-1025 2. Census of India. available at http://www.censusindia.net/religiondata/statement.pdf (accessed on 05-12- 2006) 3. Census of India. available at http://www.censusindia.net/t_00_006.html (accessed on 05-12-2006) 4. Reproductive and Child Health. Summary Report-INDIA. 2002-2004. available at http://www.rchindia.org/sr/chep5.pdf (accessed on 05-12-2006) |
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