Women’s Health: Who Cares?
by Usha Rai
In the Indian home it is well known that women are the last members to eat in the family. Often they survive on leftovers. Fifty years after Independence, the average calorie intake is less than the recommended dietary allowance for men and women.

Lady Sherlock Holmes
Jassy Anand, the only woman forensic expert in this region, has left her fingerprints in a male-dominated field. The corridors of court bear a testimony to this fact. And they are indelible. She speaks to Gaurav Sood in an exclusive interview.

Women’s Health: Who Cares?
By Usha Rai

EVERYONE acknowledges that women are under severe physical and mental stress most of their lives. Caught in the web of time and tradition, seeking to strike out in the new world and unable to make it, more and more women in the 15 to 44 age group are today resorting to suicide than ever before. Suicides have been recorded as the major killer of women,after tuberculosis in the country’s profile of women’s health, as per the Voluntary Health Association of India and the World Health Organisation.

While tuberculosis of the lungs has been holding the top slot as the biggest killer of women right from 1981 to 1994, suicides did not even figure in the top 10 causes for women’s mortality till 1984. But from the mid-eighties, the number of suicides has been rising in the mortality graph. In 1994 it has been recorded by the Registrar General of India as the second major killer of women in the reproductive age group.

The other causes of mortality in women recorded in (1994) are heart attack, burns, cancer, non-pregnant anaemia, bronchitis/asthma, acute pain in the abdomen, malaria and snake-bite. The report does not spell out why so many women die of burns — is it because of dowry or because of unsafe cooking in rural homes?

The National Profile on Women, Health and Development, edited by Dr Sarala Gopalan and Dr Mira Shiva, tells you the story of women’s health, from the cradle to the grave. It has excellent charts, graphs and goes into intricate details on women’s health issues. Women are more susceptible to contracting TB, because it is they who provide health care. When women get infected, they are either sent back home or are deserted in many cases. Genito-urinary TB can cause infertility, which is usually difficult to diagnose, and even when diagnosed remains untreated. Women suffering from infertility are deserted or ostracised.

While the book gives no specific reason for the large number of suicides among women, it does point out that women’s mental health problems are overlooked owing to gender insensitivity. Women suffer mainly from depression and anxiety and this is very often because of dowry harassment; failure to produce a child, especially a male child; sexual violence; poverty and alcoholism of the husband.

The high level of suicide is a refection on the mental anguish they suffer. An enormous number of patients require psychiatric assistance and service.

Even diagnosis and treatment of diseases like TB poses a problem for women. They have to leave home, travel to a health-care centre escorted by a male member and incur expenses on travel and medicine. Not being in a position to take decisions on financial resources of the family, women postpone or deny themselves urgent health care.

Poverty has been recognised as the major cause of their poor health. Surveys of the National Sample Survey Organisation and the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau have found that 34 per cent of the households have a household per capita/monthly expenditure below Rs 60. Sixty to 70 per cent of the households have an average per capita/monthly expenditure of Rs 73 to Rs 80. This means that the earning of the households are considerably less than their expenditure on food.

In the Indian home it is well-known that women are the last members to eat in the family. Often they survive on leftovers. Fifty years after Independence, the average calorie intake is less than the recommended dietary allowance for men and women. The worst sufferers are pregnant women and lactating mothers. Most of the calories are acquired from cereals like wheat, rice and maize , the cheapest sources of energy. Because of high costs, the consumption of oil, fats, nuts, pulses and milk is very little. In fact, between 1951 and 1996 the per capita availability of pulses decreased from 60.7 gm to 34 gm per day. A significant section of men and women continue to be 5 to 8 kg less than the desired weight.

Maternal nutritional status and haemoglobin levels are known to have an important influence on the weight of new born babies as well as neo-natal mortality.

The UNICEF’s Progress of Nations report of 1995 puts the maternal mortality of women as 453 for 1,00,000 births. According to indirect estimates by Bhat it is 580 to 638 in rural areas and 389 in urban areas. The highest maternal mortality rate is in Assam — 1068, followed by UP—920, Orissa—844, Bihar—813 and Rajasthan—627. It is lowest in Kerala—87.

The incidence of anaemia increases with pregnancy. Eightyfive per cent of pregnant women have been found anaemic. Seventeen to 24 per cent of rural maternal deaths are due to anaemia since 1981. Because of poverty and financial problems, women do not get trained assistance during delivery. In rural Haryana, the report says 64 per cent of the women needing institutional care did not reach any hospital and this was largely due to ignorance.

During an ICMR study of primary health centres (PHC), it was found that the services of a large government PHC, 3 km from a slum, were seldom used. A major reason for this was absence of a direct bus service from the slum to the hospital. Women had to walk a kilometre to reach a bus stop and wait for half an hour to an hour for the only bus that plied from the slum. At the hospital they again had to wait in queues for registration, examination and then blood tests etc. Not surprisingly the women did not use the service, especially those with one or two children.

To end unwanted pregnancies, women resort to abortions. While in the West, abortion is an emotive issue, in India one-third of the abortions are sought by young, unmarried women. The absence of appropriate quality of contraception is an important reason for abortion. In rural areas, safe abortion facilities are still not available. Only 1000 of the 15,000 doctors trained to perform abortions, practice in rural areas. The report says about 5 million abortions are performed under the health network and 4.5 million illegally. In spite of abortion being legal in India, 10 per cent of maternal deaths are due to unsafe abortions.

The report says there has been an imbalance in the provision of medical services. Most of the services are located in the urban areas, while nearly 80 per cent of the population lives in the rural areas.

Gopalan and Shiva have recommended review and reformulation of the national health policy and programmes; mainstreaming of gender and women’s empowerment; integration of western and Indian systems of medicine and making need-based interventions to improve the health status of women.

— Grassroots Feature Network

Lady Sherlock Holmes

LADY Sherlock Holmes — that’s what a lot of lawyers and criminal case consultants like to call her. Herself a fingerprint expert, Jassy Anand (29) has left her fingerprints in a male-dominated field. The corridors of court bear a testimony to this fact. And they are indelible, no regrets that she had to sacrifice her family life for this dedication to work.

With lots of persons waiting to get an expert’s opinion and the disturbance of the ringing telephones Jassy and this correspondent shared a few moments. The following are the excerpts from the conversation:

(Taking a deep breath) I always wanted to have my own identity. I never wanted the society to know me as someone’s daughter, wife or mother and today the society knows me as Jassy Anand, the only women forensic expert working in this region.

Firstly you have got to have a dream, it is very important.

After my BSc., I went for MSc. Forensic Science from Punjabi University, Patiala. As this course was available only in four cities in the country, my hometown was the best option. In 1992, I completed my Masters in the field and was honoured with a medal.In 1993, I started working as a forensic expert but started my independent practice only in 1995. (Smiles) I enjoy my work. Ever since, I have only worked hard and honestly and never looked back. These days I am doing PhD. in "Handwriting and document studies" and have got my research papers published in an international journal. (It is interesting to know that Jassy has also done a degree in Journalism before taking up this profession.)

The main part of my job is to study and give an expert’s opinion on disputed documents. The cases mainly consist of forged signatures, thumb expression and finger print disputes. I have to deal with both criminal and civil cases.

Well, there nothing that is impossible for the women of today, only thing is that this profession involves a lot of hard work and dedication. It is very challenging, adventurous and requires lots of travelling. Maybe that’s what keeps the women of today away.

No, never. When I step out of my house in the morning, I mentally prepare myself for every thing I will face. I feel that one has to pay the price for every step he or she takes. There are some people around me who have always supported me morally and have never let me down.

Yes, but the memorable moments are when I am complimented and praised by my friends, colleagues, and speacially senior judges in the court.

(Smiles before a long silence) I could have done much better in life if I could have got a better atmosphere at home. But still I am pleased with my performance and want to work hard to live a life as an international figure in my field

My only advice to all those who are reading this is that if you want to do something in life then nobody or nothing can stop you. Only one step is required and ten steps will follow that first one. Best wishes to all those who dare to take that first step.