This book critically addresses the women’s health and nutritional status in the rural areas of India. In general, an Indian woman experiences a lower nutritional status than the men in the society because of various social and cultural factors.

The objective behind the book is to understand and analyse the health and nutritional status of rural women in the villages of Uttar Pradesh. A unique aspect of the book is to find out the nutritional requirement of rural women in terms of calorie consumption and impact of social factors in their health and nutritional status. The book covers general profile of studied villages, nutritional status of married women, general diseases, reproductive health, utilization of maternal and child health, family planning services and awareness of HIV/AIDS among women, state and NGOs interventions, state level programmes and schemes related to women’s health and nutrition and their achievements. 

The intent of the book is to help stakeholders to acquaint themselves with the ground reality and status of health of women living in the rural areas. It shall help them in framing policies and focused schemes which shall be in the best interest of both the society as well as the government.

1 Introduction 

2 The Setting 

3 Nutritional Status of Women

4 Women and Health 

5 State and NGOs Interventions

6 Conclusion 

7 Case Studies 

Arpita Verma is currently working as a Chief Manager (Research) with Centre for Market Research & Social Development, New Delhi. She is also associated with an NGO (Manavadhikar Samajik Manch) as a Gender Expert in resettlement & rehabilitation projects being supported by ADB and World Bank. 

Her area of specialization is women’s health and nutrition. She has to her credit various research articles published in reputed journals. She has also presented many research papers in national and international conferences. She is on the editorial board of monthly magazine Human Touch.