In News
- Recently, Azim Premji University (APU) released the report on ‘Health Care Equity in Urban India’ in collaboration with 17 regional NGOs across India.
About the report
- It explores health vulnerabilities and inequalities in cities in India.
- It also looks at the availability, accessibility and cost of healthcare facilities, and possibilities in future-proofing services in the next decade.
- Data Sources: The study also draws insights from data collected through detailed interactions with civil society organisations in cities and towns across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Surat, Lucknow, Guwahati, Ranchi, and Delhi.
- This also included an analysis of the National Family and Health Surveys (NHFS), the Census of India, and inputs from State-level health officials on the provision of health care.
Major Findings
- Disproportionate disease burden: Life expectancy among the poorest is lower by 9.1 years and 6.2 years among men and women, respectively, compared to the richest in urban areas.
Image Courtsey: TH
- Third of India’s people now live in urban areas, with this segment seeing rapid growth from about 18% (1960) to 28.53% (2001) to 34% (in 2019).
- Close to 30% of people living in urban areas are poor.
- Chaotic urban health governance:
- The report, besides finding disproportionate disease burden on the poor, also pointed to chaotic urban health governance, where the multiplicity of healthcare providers both within and outside the government without coordination challenges urban health governance.
- Financial burden:
- The other key findings include a heavy financial burden on the poor and less investment in healthcare by urban local bodies.
- For example, 30 per cent of even the poorest quintile in India seek delivery care from private sources, resulting in high out-of-pocket expenditure.
- The other key findings include a heavy financial burden on the poor and less investment in healthcare by urban local bodies.
- Other Issues:
- “For some health conditions, the disease burden is higher among the urban poor even when compared to the rural poor, such as underweight, obesity and tuberculosis among children.
- Lack of sufficient health personnel in government facilities, including doctors, nurses, and other paramedics, as well as poor infrastructure and lack of essentials such as drugs and consumables, are a direct result of abysmally low budget allocations to urban health.
- Recommendations: It calls for
- Strengthening community participation and governance.
- Building a comprehensive and dynamic database on the health and nutrition status, including co-morbidities of the diverse, vulnerable populations.
- Strengthening healthcare provisioning through the National Urban Health Mission, especially for primary healthcare services; and putting in place policy measures to reduce the financial burden of the poor.
- It also advocates for a better mechanism for coordinated public healthcare services and better governed private healthcare institutions.
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Overview of India’s healthcare sector
Steps were taken by India for improving the health sector
Challenges in Health Sector
Way Forward
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Source: TH
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