Context: About 490 million cases of curable Reproductive Tract Infections (RTI) occur throughout the world, of which 79 million cases occur in India annually. Sexually Transmitted Infections/Reproductive Tract Infections (STI/RTI) confers a huge economic burden on the individual and the health system. Complications of RTI/STI are many, ranging from chronic pain syndrome to infertility. Most of these complications can be prevented by early diagnosis and treatment.
Aims: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices on STI/RTIs among married women aged 15-45 years in rural Haryana.
Setting and design: Cross-sectional study, conducted in selected villages under the primary health centre Mandi, Sonepat, Haryana.
Subjects and methods: Systematic sampling was used to cover 10 villages. In each village, every tenth house was sampled, taking first house from the center of the village. Face-to-face interview was conducted using pretested questionnaire.
Statistical analysis used: Descriptive statistics and results were described in percentages.
Results: A total of 344 women were interviewed. About 44% women had never heard of STI/RTI. The prevalence of self-reported symptoms of STI/RTI was very high (60%). Only 40% of them opted for treatment and most common cause for not opting for treatment was that they considered it as a minor problem. Advice for use of condom during the treatment was received by only 20% of patients and only 26.5% of their husbands also received treatment.
Conclusions: Overall knowledge, attitude and practices relating to STI/RTI among married women in rural Haryana was poor. The prevalence of self-reported STI/RTI was found to be high and treatment seeking behavior was poor.
Keywords: Attitude; knowledge; married women; practices; reproductive tract infections; rural Haryana; sexually transmitted infection.