Health is defined as the most crucialwell-being of the human aspect. It is the state of being physically, mentallyand spiritually fit. It gives value to human life and serves as economicgrowth. A women’s health not only influences the household economic but also isviewed as an investment in society’s welfare. As per 2011 census womenconstitute about 48.
5 % of the country’s total population. Goa is the 25th state inthe union of states of India and was liberated from the Portuguese rule in theyear 1961. Till 1987 it was a part of the union territory of the Goa Daman andDiu and covers 3702 sqkm .it has two main districts the north and the south. Asper 2011 census, the population of the state 14,57,723 and ranks fifth in termsof literacy with the rate of 87.
40%. though the female literacy rate hasincreased to 81.84% since the 2001 census but is still below the male literacyrate. Female population is around 49% of the total population. Goa has beenregarded as one of the better performing state in India with regard to generalhealth indicators.
In the rural areas services have been provided through anetwork of integrated health family welfare system which comprises ofsub-centers, primary health centers, community health centers and districthospitals. Birth rate of goa state i.e 13.6 is the lowest in the country .lifeexpectancy for males in goa is 68 and for females it is 72 as per 2004 census.As per latest census national total of life expectancy is 65.4.
sex ratio isanother basic gender inequality in india. Declining sex ratio is a majorconcern in goa and it reflects that there is preference given to a male childby most of the married couples. The main reasons under this area include theabortions, sex determination of the unborn child, male child preference,infanticide and migration of women. Infant and child mortality ratesreflect a country’s level of socio economic development and quality of life andare used for monitoring and for the evaluation of population ,health programmesand policies. Goa state has the lowest infant mortality rates in india. Goa in2009 recorded the least number of infant deaths per 1000 live births accordingto the times of indiaarticle( 2011). Research shows that waiting atleast threeyears between children reduces the riskof infant mortality.
The median interval between births in goa is 37 months.Maternal mortality rate is another useful indicator which captures thereproductive health status of women and other health services available andutilized by the women.