Women’s Perception of Reproductive Illness in Manipur, India

Perception of reproductive illness by the women themselves is important in understanding the women's reproductive health in a particular society. It also indicates the possibility of taking perception as a tool for measuring reproductive illness. Though women do not have a “germ theory” to explain their reproductive illness they have a sense of illness pathology. Reproductive illness perceived by women is related to physical symptoms and situations in a network of meanings and different meanings are socially generated to articulate their experiences. 1. Introduction Reproductive illness is not only biological but also is embedded in a web of psychological, economic, political, and social factors. Different societies encounter, define, and experience reproductive health problems biologically as well as culturally. Different cultures define reproductive illness in different ways; what is recognised as reproductive illness in one may not be so in others. For this paper, reproductive illness refers to the illness which women perceive as related to their sexual and reproductive organs and function. As the meaning of health is culturally defined understanding of the women’s perception of reproductive health is a sine qua non in order to give a holistic representation of women’s health. Here, understanding the conceptual distinction between “disease” and “illness” becomes essential. The concept of disease has historically been the most dominant category; it has a biological interpretation and refers to abnormalities in the structure or function of organ and organ systems, pathological states whether or not they are culturally recognised. Health, as a felt experience of the individual, provides another meaning which is embodied in the term “illness.” Thus, illness is the meaning that individual gives to health and refers to a “person” disvalued states including but not limited to disease [1]. Illness is the individual’s consciousness that there is something wrong [2]. Thus, disease in the Western medical paradigm is malfunctioning or maladaptation of physiologic processes in the individual. Whereas illness represents personal, interpersonal, and cultural reactions to disease and/or discomfort. Illness is shaped by cultural factors governing perception and labelling explanation and valuation of the discomforting experience and by processes embedded in a complex family, social, and cultural nexus. Because illness experience is an intimate part of social systems of meaning and rules for behaviour, it is strongly influenced by culture: it is, as we shall see,