Prevalence of Reproductive Tract Infections and Treatment Seeking Behavior among Women of 15–49 Years Age Group in Haldwani Block, District Nainital, Uttarakhand, India Verma Neha1, Awasthi Sadhana2,*, Rawat Chandramohan Singh3, Singh Rajesh Kumar4, Basumatary Bithorai5 1Post Graduate Resident, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Haldwani, Uttarakhand 2Associate Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Haldwani, Uttarakhand 3Principal, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Medical College, Srinagar, Uttarakhand 4Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India 5Post Graduate Resident, Department of Pharmacology, Government Medical College, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding Author: Dr Sadhana Awasthi, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India, Email: drsadhna1810@yahoo.com
Online published on 20 March, 2019. Abstract Background Reproductive Tract Infections are one of the major public health problems in India, and have a huge impact on the lives of women and men along with their families and communities. Objectives To estimate the prevalence of RTI among married women in the age group of 15–49 years. To assess the pattern of treatment seeking behavior among women with symptoms of RTI.
Methods Cross-sectional study design was used to investigate RTIs in 30 villages of Haldwani block, district Nainital, with 30 cluster sampling technique. Results Out of 450 women interviewed, 145 of them were found to be suffering from RTIs resulting in a prevalence of 32.2%. Out of 145 symptomatic women, only 14.5% reported that they received treatment while 85.5% did not receive any treatment. Conclusion The study showed a high prevalence of RTI but poor treatment seeking behavior among the study participants. Top Keywords Reproductive Tract Infections, Treatment seeking behavior, Syndromic approach. Top |