Impact of Poverty on the Health of Rural Women of India

This study was aimed at identifying the perceived barriers and facilitators to fruit and vegetable consumption among women living in rural communities in Haryana, India. We used qualitative methods and held 9 focus group discussions and 12 one to one interviews. The Data collection was stopped when no new information emerged. We used inductive thematic coding to analyse the data. Women aged 18-40 years were recruited from eight villages surrounding the city of Sirsa, Haryana. Women knew that fruit and vegetables are beneficial to health and expressed that they wanted to increase intakes of these foods for themselves and their children. Seven main reasons were identified as being barriers or facilitators to fruit and vegetable consumption: 1) Personal factors; 2) Household dynamics; 3) Social and Cultural Norms; 4) Workload; 5) Time pressure; 6) Environmental Factors; 7) Cost. The conclusion we got was Rural Indian women consumed fruit and vegetables infrequently and said they would like to consume more. Several potentially modifiable factors affecting intakes were identified. Value chain analyses of fruit and vegetables in these communities are important to identify opportunities to intervene to increase consumption.