Understanding pre and post ICPD reproductive health situation of Indian married women

Dilip C. Nath, Gauhati University

In this paper an attempt has been made to develop a composite Reproductive Health Index (RHI).The nine parameters viz., total fertility rate, infant mortality rate, median age at marriage, length of birth interval, birth order, medical attention, couple protection rate, level of mothers education, AIDS awareness are taken in to account in the construction of RHI. To understand reproductive health situation and relative change over pre and post ICPD declaration NFHS-1 (1992-93) and NFHS-2 (1998-99) data are used to estimate reproductive health indices of Indian married women. The relative change in reproductive health indices for mothers in 11 Indian states have gone down over 1992-99. It must be a matter great concern for the Indian policy makers. This research reveals the grim reproductive health situation among Indian married women. It seems the uniform RH program will not be able to achieve ICPD goal in near future in India.