HEALTH INEQUALITIES-GOA

The National Family Health Survey 5(NHFS-5) provides information about population, health and nutrition for India and each state/Union territory. Besides looking over these factors, the NFHS - 5 also monitors many new topics which are the toilet facilities in the schools, death registration, preschool education , methods and reasons for abortion etc.

The main objective of NFHS is to provide accurate information about the health and family related issues of the people of the rural and the urban areas. This information also helps in determining the new programmes or schemes to be initiated in order to solve the issues related to it. 

Some points which describes the health inequalities in the state are as follows:

• The births that are delivered by the caeserean section are 56.6 in rural areas and 46.6 in urban areas. It describes that there are less health care and nutrition in the rural areas as compared to urban areas.
• The child vaccination and the vitamin supplementation is more in the urban areas as compared to rural areas.
• The age group of 6-23 months receiving an adequate diet have increased in urban areas by 22% but there is decrease of 20% in the rural areas which shows inequalities in the healthy diets in the rural and urban areas.
• The adults whose blood sugar level is high and taking medication are more in the rural areas as compared to urban areas which shows the lack of medicinal facilities in the rural areas as compared to urban areas.
• Men who knows about the comprehensive knowledge about the HIV/AIDS are 67% while women who are aware about it are 49%. There should be proper education and knowledge given about this to the men and women equally.
• Young women aged between 18-29 experienced sexual violence are 9% in rural areas whereas only 1% in urban areas which shows the inequalities in safety of women in rural and urban areas.
• Elevated blood pressure of men and women is around 30% in urban as well as rural areas. 
• Men whose Body Mass Index is below normal are 9.3% in urban areas but 18.4% in rural areas which shows inequalities in the nutrition availability of the rural and the urban areas.
• There are more people in rural areas who are illiterate than in the urban areas and also the people in urban areas are getting good facilities to education than the the people in the urban areas.

Being in state of emergence, Goa still lacks in providing equal health and medicinal facilities to the urban and the rural areas.

The people faces many health inequalities in the urban and the rural areas.