Mother’s Health Seeking Behavior During Childhood illness in Northeast India: Findings of National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-16)

Authors

  • Jatin Phukan
  • Bipin Gogoi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v12i4.16533

Keywords:

Children U-5, Childhood illness, Health programs, Northeast India.

Abstract

The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) report reflects the current health condition of the country
and its states as well as.Based on these findings this review carried out to highlight the mother’s health
seeking behaviours during childhood illness for the North-eastern states of India along with existing health
programs catering to maternal and child health.Overall 60 percent of the children aged under five (U-5) were
received any advice or treatment for Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) from a health provider in Northeast
India. Nearly 20 percent of the children with fever were given antibiotic drug and only 1 percent of them
were given antimalarial drug. Meghalaya is the only North-eastern state were the maximum incidence (12%)
of diarrhoea has been observed while least was seen in Sikkim (2%). The lack of basic amenities is directly
or indirectly responsible for the high burden of childhood morbidities in this region. Also, poor and unequal
distribution of maternal health seeking behaviours for their children were observed to all the North-eastern
states of India. A huge proportion of children are still lagging behind from the adequate advices or treatments
due to various reasons like, poor quality of care and the lake of government health facility in the area, health
personnel were often absent from government health facilities and the major problem was the distance to a
health facility specially in rural areas.

Author Biographies

  • Jatin Phukan

    Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Statistics, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India

  • Bipin Gogoi

    Professor, Department of Statistics, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India

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Published

2021-07-19

How to Cite

Mother’s Health Seeking Behavior During Childhood illness in Northeast India: Findings of National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-16). (2021). Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 12(4), 130-134. https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v12i4.16533