Status of Women’s Health in Goa and Sikkim: A Comparative Analysis of State Fact Sheets of National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3 and 4

Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the status of women’s health in Goa and Sikkim based on the factsheets of NFHS-3 and NFHS-4. In addition, the study also compares and contrasts the achievements of reproductive health indicators in Goa and Sikkim. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive analysis of NFHS fact sheets of Goa and Sikkim. The fact sheets were obtained from the web portal of NFHS at the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai and the indicators of women’s health were then compared between NFHS-3 and 4. These indicators include marriage and fertility, ante-natal care (ANC) services, performance in neonatal tetanus and anaemia control, performance in mother and child protection card, post-natal care (PNC), delivery services, women’s empowerment and gender based violence. Results: Despite remarkable progress observed from NFHS-3 to NFHS-4, many parameters pertaining women’s health such as; access to maternal care, women’s empowerment, and nutritional status still require further improvement. The progress in Sikkim is relatively sluggish compared to Goa however the status of women empowerment is relatively better in Sikkim. Better performance in several indicators in both these states need to be consolidated for achieving targets in the future. To further the improvement in these indicators requires a strong political commitment, continuous monitoring by competent authorities and mobilization of appropriate resources. Conclusion: The performance of Goa is relatively better compared to Sikkim. The indicators analysed in this study including access to resources strongly influence the health status and the empowerment of women which is linked with reproductive health outcomes. In addition both the fact sheets reveal that women in these two states take part in household decision making.