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Prevalence of domestic violence and its effects on reproductive health of women in India
Authors: Mal Sibsankar, Bhattacharya Prabhat
Source: International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2, 197-204, Online published on 21 November
Topic(s): Body Mass Index (BMI)
Domestic violence
Reproductive health
Country: Asia
  India
Published: NOV 2013
Abstract: This paper examines the linkages between domestic violence and reproductive health of women of India. The main cause of the prevalence of violence against women in Indian society is mainly due to lack of economic freedom and decision making at home. The objective of the study is to find out the impact of domestic violence affecting the reproductive health of women in India. The present study relies on the third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) which was conducted in 2005–06. The major technique used in this paper is bivariate and multivariate statistical methods for analyzing the cross linkage between the dependent and independent variables. Result shows that the maximum incidence of violence was reported in Bihar which is about 63% followed by Rajasthan (51%), Madhya Pradesh (50%) and Uttar Pradesh (47%) respectively. Reports also represent that women who were exposed to violence, the majority of them had a BMI less than 18.5kg/m2 as they are deprived of healthy food intake, thus suffer with poor health and low BMI and this may also result in the occurrence of anemia which has become a significant outcome of domestic violence. It is evident that domestic violence in any form has a negative impact on women's health. Therefore it can be concluded that violence or abuse has its impact on the health of women and this vulnerability has led to the deprivation of liberty.