Abstract : The health status and health services utilization pattern may vary among men and women. Women in developing countries underutilize healthcare services due to various barriers. This study aims at identifying the pattern of healthcare service utilization among women and the barriers to healthcare service utilization. A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among 123 rural women. Questionnaires on socio-demographics, patterns of utilization of healthcare services, and barriers to healthcare service utilization were used. The study findings showed that the majority of the women were between 41 – 60 years of age, were married and were homemakers. The pattern of utilization of healthcare facilities showed that 89.4% utilized private healthcare facilities, whereas 10.6% utilized public health facilities. Among the private healthcare facilities used, 42.3% visited the private hospital, and 43.9% visited the private clinics. The percentage of women who did not check cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, and undergone gynaecological examinations at any time were 46.3%, 24.3 %, 28.5 % and 50.4%, respectively. The commonly perceived barriers for utilization of healthcare facilities were; getting permission from the family to visit the doctor (64 %), not wanting to burden the family financially (63%), having a caretaker role in the family (63%), embarrassing physical examination (62%), the stigma associated with a disease (62%), difficulty in transportation (61%), lack of belief in the treatment process, lack of health insurance and language barrier (60%). The study concludes that though there are healthcare facilities available, there are individual, community, and facility-related barriers influencing the utilization of healthcare services..
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