Socio-Economic Factors of Differences in Public Health-Related Variables among Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This study examines the association of living areas (slum and non-slum) with the selected public health-related variables in the presence of socioeconomic variables among married women and also having a child. A total of 150 women aged 18 to 49 are selected of which 50 women from slums and 100 women are from non-slum areas of Multan by applying the cluster and random sampling techniques. The cross-tabulation method is used to find the results. The dependent variable is Body Mass Index (BMI) and it is analyzed with the socio-economic variables such as mass media index, household characteristics and education. The findings exhibit that the BMI of the women living in the slum areas is low due to a low level of education, lack of mass media access, bad household structures, and poor or ignorant area. The women of the slum area have fewer mass media access, poor status of household characteristics and less education as compared to the women living in the non-slum areas. BMI is significantly affected by area, women's education and household characteristics except for physical work, job status, mass media access and husband education. The findings of this study suggest that to provide health facilities or to reduce the gap in public health, education, mass media access and households characteristics might be considered while making any decision related to the slum and non-slum areas.