Women's Perspectives on the Quality of General and Reproductive Health Care: Evidence from Rural Maharashtra

Abstract

There is a need to document women's perceptions regarding the quality of their health care, including abortion services, since most studies to date have approached this issue from the viewpoint of service providers, policymakers, or the state (Jesani and Iyer 1995). Basic maternal and child health (MCH) care, from both public and private sources, has been grossly neglected in India. MCH services, which are practically the only special program for women, receive a mere 2 percent of the national health budget. In fact, with less than 1 percent of the gross domestic product currently allocated for health services, there is a large gap between health needs in India and the public infrastructure intended to serve them. The number of health workers and the infrastructure available for even the existing limited services are inadequate and of poor quality. Added to this deficiency is a bias favoring urban areas in health care delivery (Duggal 1995).