Health Care Status of Residents of the Slum Areas of Karaj 2015

Slum dwelling is the main challenge that developing countries face. Lack of enough knowledge about the distribution of non-communicable disease risk factors, like unhealthy nutrition and mental problem, is one of the characteristics of these areas. The aim of this study was to assess the health needs of the slum dwellers in term of nutrition and mental health cares and their accessibility to primary health cares.
Participants of this descriptive-cross sectional study were 514 married women of three slums of Karaj in 2015. The study was conducted using two-stage cluster sampling. Data was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire to gather socio-demographic information, the perceived mental and nutritional health care needs and the amount of accessibility to primary health cares.
231 (62.4%) and 299 (58.4%) of participants stated the need for nutritional and psychological consultation respectively, but only 26.2% and 24.1% of them had received proper consultation (in order). More than 40% of people with nutritional and mental health consultation needs had used private sectors to satisfy their needs. More than 60% of them found health expert advices effective, moderate and high, and more than 70% of them found themselves in need of more information.
The findings indicated that slum dwellers need to get more information and consultation about nutritional and mental health issues. Considering to the slum dwellers needs and their positive attitude toward effectiveness of health care advices, it seems that providing necessary infrastructure to improve these people’s access to the health care is essential to improve the health of them and to reach health justice.