Growing disparity in use of maternity care across ethnic groups in India: Does place pf residence matter?
Abstract
Background: The public health interventions in the country have focused to increase coverage of maternity services among poor. However, identification of the poor is a big challenge in the country because of a corrupt... [ view full abstract ]
Background: The public health interventions in the country have focused to increase coverage of maternity services among poor. However, identification of the poor is a big challenge in the country because of a corrupt political system and biased policies. Alternatively, it is better to target those who are socially disadvantaged and face discrimination. This would be worthwhile to further reduce maternal mortality ratio in India. This paper examines the trends and pattern in use of full antenatal care and medical assistance at delivery by ethnic groups across rural-urban residence. This layered analysis will provide insights for targeted health policies in India.
Methods: Data of National Family Health Surveys, 1992-2006 are analysed. Ethnic groups are created and disparity in use of the services is analyzed between groups. Inequality and multivariate analysis were used to understand find-out ethnic disparity in use of maternity services by rural-urban residence.
Results: A huge gap exists in coverage of the services between ethnic groups in India – use of the services are 20-35 percent lower among marginalized ethnic groups than non-marginalized. The gap is more pronounced in rural compared to urban area: % caste gap in use of antenatal care was 23% in rural compared to 9% in urban India. There is sluggish change coupled with the concomitant rise in ethnic disparities with respect to use of the services in India and across place of residence.
Conclusions: Though there is provision of reservation for marginalized ethnic groups for enrollment in government universities and in government jobs. There is need for special policy in similar way to increase the coverage of maternity services among marginalized ethnic groups of India, particularly on rural areas. A lower ethnic gap in use of maternity care in urban India might be reflection exposure of modernity and cosmopolitan culture in urban India.
Authors
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Abhishek Kumar
(International Institute for Population Sciences,)
Topic Areas
V. Healthcare Service 5.1 Accessibility of healthcare services and its optimization 5.2 He , II. Urban Health at the intersection of urban environment, social determinants and places , IV. Urbanism, Health and Wellbeing 4.1 Built environment 4.2 Pollution: air, noise, etc
Session
PS-3 » POSTER SESSION 3 (12:15 - Sunday, 3rd April, TBA)
Paper
Abstract_Kumar.docx
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