Reproductive Health Risks of Divorced Poor Women and its Consequences

Abstract

The health and well-being of women are critical to the country's future development, although the surrounding reproductive health (RH) still remains a cultural taboo, especially for divorced poor women who have vulnerable stabilities in managing their reproductive health. Women in Bangladesh too often enter their reproductive years poorly informed about RH issues. A significant number of divorced poor women have been deprived the reproductive health services in rural and urban areas. The key aim of this study was to identify the factors of reproductive health risks of the divorced poor women in Dhaka city. The divorced poor women have been studied in this research as they belong to one of the neglected communities of Bangladesh. The study was conducted from July to December 2017. The data were collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire. A majority (88.0%) of the respondents suffered from complications during their pregnancy. In their last pregnancy, 60.0% of them confessed lack of frequent medical checkups and a balanced diet. 78.0% of the respondents lived in an unhygienic condition with 60.0% of them had insufficient light and airflow access in the home. The overwhelming majority of the respondents suffered from complications during their delivery. About half of the respondents suffered from uterus complications with more than three-quarters of respondents identified residential environment as affecting factor on their reproductive health.