HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOUR AND HEALTH SERVICE UTILIZATION IN LUCKNOW

Abstract

There is a growing literature on health seeking behaviors and the determinants of health services utilization especially in the context of developing countries. However, very few focused studies have been seen in Lucknow in this regard. This paper presents an extensive literature review of the situation  in developing countries and relates the similar factors responsible for shaping up of a health seeking behavior and health service utilization in Lucknow. The factors determining the health behaviors may be seen in various contexts: physical, socio-economic, cultural and political. Therefore, the utilization of a health care system, public or private, formal or non-formal, may depend on socio-demographic factors, social structures, level of education, cultural beliefs and practices, gender discrimination, status of women, economic and political systems environmental conditions, and the disease pattern and health care system itself. Policy makers need to understand the drivers of health seeking behavior of the population in an increasingly pluralistic health care system. Also a more concerted effort is required for designing behavioral health promotion campaigns through inter-sector collaboration focusing more on disadvantaged segments of the population.