Health Status of Women Slum Dwellers in Visakhapatnam City

Slums are pockets of poor houses, poor people and poor environment either in the middle or in the periphery of a big city. Dirt, filth and stink fill the whole terrain. In one room the human beings of three generation are huddled together like sardines. The same room is used for cooking, co-habitation and breeding. The area of health and welfare is conspicuous by its absence. Slum has been variously described as a cancer on the body of a city, a veritable hell and utmost form of human degradation. Crimes, vices, diseases and illiteracy consistently show higher degree of occurrence in such surroundings. There are abundant cases of starvation, malnutrition of children, women and the old, unemployment and under employment, exploitation, torture, delinquency, desertion, and heinous crimes. They are devoid of food, sanitation water, electricity, privacy, quietude, and protection against diseases, health, medical care and above all any help. The incidence of low birth weight babies is much higher in slums as compared to average. Consequently, infant death rate is also higher. Low birth weight babies are three times more likely to die in infancy than babies of normal weight at birth.

Autorentext

Dr. B. Raveendra Naik (1981) (M.S.W, SET., Ph.D) is born in Piler Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India. He obtained Ph.D in the Department of Population Studies and Social Work in 2012 from S.V. University, Tirupati. He worked as Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Arba Minch University Ethiopia, Africa for couple of years