Health outcomes in India

Abstract

Good health is not only valued intrinsically by the people but also helps the nations newlineachieving economic progress and reducing poverty through various pathways. Therefore, newlineimproving health of the people has become central part of policies of various national and newlineinternational agencies. This study examines some issues related to health outcomes of the newlineIndian population, viz., spatial and temporal dimensions of infant and underand#8208;five mortality newlinerates and their socioeconomic determinants, role of initial socioeconomic conditions newlineprevailing in the states in determining infant mortality in the longand#8208;run, and distribution of newlineselfand#8208;reported morbidity across different subgroups of the population. newlineThe thesis finds that although infant mortality in the country declined markedly newlineduring 1972and#8208;2007, the pattern of decline differed substantially across the states and newlinesectors; and poor decline in one of the sectors was responsible for poor performance of newlinesome states. The rate of decline decelerated during 1990and#8208;98 as a result of which newlineachievement of timeand#8208;bound goals/ targets is unlikely even for the states like Kerala. We newlinealso observe that pattern of deaths was shifting towards early ages. Although interand#8208;state newlinedisparity in infant mortality declines in absolute terms, it does not in relative terms. The newlinestates where the average standard of living is poor and literacy is low are likely to converge newlineto a higher value of infant mortality in the longand#8208;run than the states with higher values of the newlinetwo parameters. We also discern spatial patterns in infant and underand#8208;five mortality rates newlineacross suband#8208;national units. Spatial regression analysis of socioeconomic determinants of newlineunderand#8208;five mortality reveals that contrary to the existing evidence, neither the female labor newlineforce participation nor the general level of modernization helped reducing U5MR newlinesignificantly however we found importance of addressing poverty and public health newlineinterventions. newline