Why are women in Bihar reaching menopause in their thirties?
Data indicates that women in Bihar are experiencing premature menopause at rates significantly higher than the national average, often linked to unnecessary hysterectomies. This trend is exacerbated by insurance schemes and private medical practices that prioritize surgery over conservative care.
Why it matters
The over-medicalization of women's health and the lack of informed consent in surgical procedures have long-term consequences for public health and women's quality of life.
While menopause typically occurs around the age of 50, data shows that a large number of women in Bihar experience menopause in their thirties . This phenomenon appears to be influenced more by prevailing medical practices than by biological factors, disproportionately affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged women in the State.
Consider what this means in a single life. A woman of 34 in a Bihar district, treated for heavy or painful periods, is offered not medication and follow-up care, but an operation, and, with insurance being guaranteed, she takes it. Her uterus is removed; sometimes her ovaries with it. She leaves, believing a problem has been solved. What she has, in fact, acquired decades early, is the body of a post-menopausal woman: the raised risk of heart disease and bone loss that oestrogen had been holding back. She was not told this was the trade-off.
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