If health services exist in an area but women’s decision-making power is weak, which policy element should be strengthened?

Correct answer: Women’s empowerment

Correct answer: C, women’s empowerment. A health service is useful only when people can obtain information, reach the service, discuss choices, and participate in decisions about their own health and family. Women’s empowerment may involve education, awareness, access to resources, confidence, freedom from discrimination, and a meaningful voice in household and community decisions. If women cannot decide or negotiate about healthcare, contraception, pregnancy care, or the timing and number of children, the existence of a clinic alone may not produce the intended benefit. A is wrong because roads may improve access but do not directly solve unequal decision-making power. B is wrong because market expansion is not the specific social-policy requirement in the situation. D is wrong because census training concerns data collection, not women’s autonomy in health decisions. C is correct because empowerment connects available services with the ability to use them effectively. Memory cue: access to a service is not the same as power to use and choose it.