Socio-economic inequalities in child health: Recent evidence from India

Glob Public Health. 2009 Sep 23:1-16. [Epub ahead of print]

Socio-economic inequalities in child health: Recent evidence from India.

Joe W, Mishra US, Navaneetham K.

Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
This paper analyses the Indian National Family Health Survey (2005-2006) data to present certain broad descriptive features of child health inequalities in India and their distribution across well-defined socio-economic groups classified by gender and sector-of-origin, and their dispersal across space. This study finds that poorer sections of the population are beleaguered with ill health whether in the quest for child survival or due to anxieties pertaining to child nutrition. The concentration index value for the indicators of under-five mortality, full immunisation and underweight outcomes at the national level is calculated to be -0.159, 0.204 and -0.158, respectively. The other disturbing finding here is that there are reigning regional and gender disadvantages irrespective of the developmental status of the State. This study would not only help policymakers to recognise these persistent inequalities but also would help understand health performance at the state and regional levels thus facilitating targeting intervention.

PMID: 19787520 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]