Impact of Health Seeking Behaviour on Morbidity Pattern and Health Service Utilization among Muslim Women: A Case Study of Balasore Municipalty, Odisha

Although though economic reforms were implemented in India in the 1990s and the country experienced great economic growth, the nation's population's health has only gradually and unevenly improved. There are still significant disparities in access to health care, and these gaps have even grown between states, between rural and urban areas, and within communities. The present study proposes to look into the morbidity patterns and health service utilization by Muslim women in Balasore district of Odisha. The study has used primary survey in Balasore Municipality for analyzing the morbidity pattern and health service utilization among Muslim women. The study applies the purposive sampling method to collect the information on women health status among the household members in the study area. The study has used two multiple regressions analysis, one multiple regressions for total health expenditure and another one for expenditure made on women health. The study reveals that income of the households, educational status of the head of the household, age of the household and duration of illness are significantly affecting the health expenditure of the families in the study area. The above findings will be useful for taking suitable public policies.