Health Care Equity in Urban India

Health Care Equity in Urban India

News: The report on ‘Health Care Equity in Urban India’ exploring health vulnerabilities and inequalities in cities in India was recently released.

Details:
• The report is released recently by Azim Premji University in collaboration with 17 regional NGOs across India.
• It notes that a 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).
• The study draws insights from data collected through detailed interactions with civil society organizations in major cities and towns.
• 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.
• It also looks at the availability, accessibility, and cost of healthcare facilities, and possibilities in futureproofing services in the next decade.

Highlights of the report:
• Close to 30% of people living in urban areas are poor. 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.
• The report, besides finding disproportionate disease burden on the poor, also pointed to a chaotic urban health governance.The multiplicity of healthcare providers both within and outside the government without coordination challenges to urban health governance.
• Urban healthcare has received relatively less research and policy attention.

Way forward:
• Strengthening community participation and governance
• Building a comprehensive and dynamic database on the health and nutrition status, including comorbidities of the diverse, vulnerable populations
• Strengthening healthcare provisioning through the National Urban Health Mission, especially for primary healthcare services
• Putting in place policy measures to reduce the financial burden of the poor
• A better mechanism for coordinated public healthcare services and better governed private healthcare institutions
• As urbanization is happening rapidly, the number of the urban poor is only expected to increase.A wellfunctioning, better coordinated, and governed health care system is crucial at this point.The pandemic has brought to attention the need for a robust and resourced healthcare system.Addressing this will benefit the most vulnerable and offer critical services to city dwellers across income groups.