Vistas Of Change

Abstract

Among most of Tamil Nadus rural population, especially if the villages are in remote areas, health is not very much a 'felt need'. If one discusses with poor villagers their needs and aspirations, there are many other priorities of a higher order e.g. work, food, shelter, clothing, education, arranging for the marriages of one's children, repaying one's debts etc. Health tends to get the eighth or ninth rank in the list of priorities, though in cases of emergency, when life is endangered, especially if it is the life of an earning member of the family or a male child, heavy expense may go into life saving measures. Oftentimes, such measures prove futile and result in further indebtedness. This situation is quite different from neighboring Kerala which has a more close-knit infrastructure of primary health services, a higher literacy rate, a very developed people's science movement and a lower mortality rate among women and infants.