An Assessment of the Health Status and Related Problems of Female Slum Dwellers: Case Study of Selected Slums of KMC

The health status of a population is a reflection of the socio-economic development of a country. It is shaped by a variety of factors like level of income, standard of living, housing, sanitation, water supply, education, employment, health consciousness, personal hygiene and by the coverage, availability and accessibility to health care services.

One of the most important factors of social development of an overpopulated city like Kolkata is the health status of its population who resides both in high rises and in the slums. Being the major urban centre of eastern India, the city continues to attract rural people from its hinterland and adjacent states. These immigrants come to the city in search of job opportunity and better living condition, but eventually are forced to settle in the slum areas.

The urban poor residing in the slum area of KMC are necessarily exposed to greater health risk due to certain socio-economic and environmental constraints that they fail to avoid. Among them, the health status of female population displays a comparatively more alarming situation. Thus the present study is concerned with the assessment of health condition of the female slum dwellers in selected slum areas of KMC and to investigate the prime causes behind such situation.