Journal of Public Health Policy

Developing and validating a Women’s Health Index for India

Meena Sehgal ¹

Santosh Jatrana ^{2, 3, 4}

Louise Johnson ²

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School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia |

Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia |

School of Demography, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |

⁴

Centre for Rural and Remote Health, James Cook University, Mount Isa, Australia |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2025-02-11

Springer Nature

Journal: Journal of Public Health Policy

scimago Q1

SJR: 0.886

CiteScore: 5.7

Impact factor: 2.3

ISSN: 01975897, 1745655X

DOI: 10.1057/s41271-025-00557-x

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Abstract

Developing a women’s health index is particularly important in the Indian context due to the pronounced disparities in women’s health across various social, economic, and geographical segments. This paper focuses on the development and validation of a comprehensive Women’s Health Index (WHI) for India. In contrast to previous efforts that predominantly focused on indicators related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, often limited to reproductive or maternal health services, our index adopts a multi-dimensional approach. The WHI comprises 17 variables, representing life stages of women and encompassing a diverse range of factors. Utilizing Principal Component Analysis, we computed the index and conducted statistical tests for internal and external validation. The spatial pattern of WHI reveals substantial inter-district and inter-state disparities. This study thus provides a valuable tool for characterizing women’s health and identifying health inequalities at a smaller administrative level in India.