More than two-fifth (44 per cent) of married women aged between 18-49 years in Manipur have experienced physical or sexual violence, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21 report. 

In Manipur, 33 per cent of women aged 18-49 years ever experienced physical violence (38 per cent of ever married women and 15 per cent of never married women), and one per cent have ever experienced sexual violence. In all, 37 per cent of women experienced physical or sexual violence and four per cent experienced, both physical and sexual violence. For ever-married women who experienced physical violence since age 15, the most common perpetrator was the current husband, the survey found.

The report stated that three per cent of women aged 18-49 in Manipur, who have ever been pregnant, have ever experienced physical violence during one or more of their pregnancies. Women with eight-nine years of schooling, women with one-two children, and women who are widowed, divorced, separated, or deserted are more likely to experience violence during pregnancy than women in any other group, the survey found. 

The experience of spousal violence is higher among women in rural areas (45 per cent) than in urban areas (37 per cent); and among women who are employed for cash (52 per cent) than women who are not employed (31 per cent). Husband’s characteristics are also related to overall spousal violence (emotional, physical, or sexual). For instance, women are more likely to experience spousal violence if their husband gets drunk often (75 per cent), displays one-two marital control behaviours (54 per cent), gets drunk sometimes (44 per cent), and if the husband never attended school (42 per cent). More than half of women (54 per cent) of women who say they are afraid of their husband most of the time have experienced spousal violence, the report stated. 

Seventy-two per cent of women in Manipur have a mobile phone that they themselves use. Fifty-seven per cent of women own a house alone or jointly with someone else, and 25 per cent of women own land alone or jointly with someone else. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of women have a bank or savings account that they themselves use. Only 49 per cent of all women aged 15-49, compared with 82 per cent of men, were employed in the 12 months preceding the survey. 

In Manipur, 81 per cent use sanitary napkins, 64 per cent use cloth, four per cent use locally prepared napkins, and less than one per cent (0.1 per cent) use tampons. Overall, 83 per cent of women aged 15-24 use a hygienic method of menstrual protection, up from 76 per cent in NFHS-4. Notably, only 80 per cent of rural women use a hygienic method of menstrual protection, compared with 90 per cent of urban women. 

Higher-risk sex refers to sexual intercourse with someone who is neither a spouse nor a cohabiting partner. Among those who had sex in the past 12 months, less than one per cent (0.2 per cent) of women and five per cent of men reported having had higher-risk sex during the past 12 months. The percentage of men who had higher-risk sexual intercourse in the past 12 months is somewhat higher (seven per cent) in urban areas than in rural areas (five per cent). Less than one per cent (0.2 per cent) of men said they had paid for sex in the past year.

A large majority of women (85 per cent) and men (86 per cent) say that they would buy fresh vegetables from a shopkeeper with HIV/AIDS. Similarly, 83 per cent of women and 87 per cent of men say that if a family member got infected with HIV/AIDS, they would not want to keep it a secret. An almost equal proportion of women (86 per cent) and men (87 per cent) say that an HIV positive student should be allowed to attend school with students who are HIV negative. Over three quarters of women (77 per cent) and men (79 per cent) think that people living with HIV/AIDS should be treated in the same public hospital as persons who are HIV negative. Almost nine-tenths of women (89 per cent) and men (90 per cent) think that people living with HIV should be allowed to work in the same office with people who are HIV negative. 

Two-third (67 per cent) of men, but 42 per cent of women, aged 15-49 use some form of tobacco. Tobacco products used most by men are paan with tobacco (42 per cent), cigarettes (36 per cent), and khaini (20 per cent). Among women and men, the use of any form of tobacco is higher in rural areas (44 per cent for women and 72 per cent for men) than in urban areas (37 per cent for women and 61 per cent for men). Most women and men who smoke cigarettes smoked fewer than five cigarettes in the past 24 hours. In Manipur, among adults aged 15-49, two per cent of women and 48 per cent of men drink alcohol, and the consumption among men is higher in rural areas. In rural areas, one per cent of women and 52 per cent of men drink alcohol. In urban areas, two per cent of women and 42 per cent of men drink alcohol. Most men who drink alcohol drink it about once a week (46 per cent) or less than once a week (44 per cent), and 10 per cent drink almost every day. 

In Manipur, three types of programmes dominate: the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), the State Health Insurance Scheme, and the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Only eight per cent of women and seven per cent of men aged 15-49 in Manipur are covered by any health scheme insurance/financing scheme. Older women and men are more likely to be covered than younger women and men. Health insurance/financing scheme coverage is higher among men with eight-nine years of schooling (nine per cent) than among those with no schooling (two per cent).

According to NFHS-self-reports, 1,107 women and 1,037 men aged 15-49 per 100,000 have diabetes. Overall, 1,395 women and 2,155 men per 100,000 have asthma. The prevalence of asthma among women and men is higher in older age groups, and in urban women and rural men. Goitre is more common than asthma or diabetes among women, but less common than asthma or diabetes among men (2,989 women and 566 men per 100,000). The prevalence of any heart disease is lower among women (1,200 per 100,000) than among men (1,710 per 100,000). Among the five diseases, cancer is the least common, with 110 women and 233 men per 100,000 reportedly having cancer. 

It may be mentioned that NFHS-5 fieldwork for Manipur was conducted in all the nine districts of the state from 25 July, 2019 to 27 January, 2020 by the Research and Development Initiative (RDI) Pvt. Ltd. Information was collected from 7,881 households, 8,042 women aged 15-49 (including 1,256 women interviewed in PSUs in the state module), and 1,162 men aged 15-54.