Health Inequities in India : A Synthesis of Recent Evidence

This timely contribution to the global literature on health inequities approaches the subject through a synthesis and analysis of relevant published literature on India. Amongst the BRICS countries, India ranks the lowest in the gender-gap index and has the highest poverty rate, and there is clear evidence that socio-economic inequalities have increased in India in the twenty-first century. These have direct impact on the health conditions of its people; however, there has been relatively little concerted research attention on health inequities in India. This volume fills the gap by synthesizing research evidence since the year 2000 on the topic. This is perhaps the first volume on this topic of such scope and breadth. Its uniqueness lies in the synthesis of evidence across a range of axes of disadvantages within a single volume: socio-economic position, caste, gender, other socially constructed vulnerabilities such as disability, HIV status, migrant status; and health-system factors contributing to or mitigating inequities in health. Each core chapter not only summarizes research findings but also engages critically with the perspectives reflected in the chapters and proposes a framework for understanding the mechanisms through which health inequities result. This volume highlights and addresses research gaps in both methodology and content, and is valuable to researchers and students of public health and allied health disciplines, including the social sciences, and also to policy makers and donors. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxv Structural Drivers of Inequities in Health (T. K. Sundari Ravindran, Rakhal Gaitonde, Prashanth Nuggehalli Srinivas)....Pages 1-30 Conceptual Approaches to Examining Health Inequities (Rakhal Gaitonde)....Pages 31-54 Research on Inequities and Inequalities in Health in India: A Mapping of the Field (Rakhal Gaitonde)....Pages 55-65 Health Inequities in India by Socio-economic Position (Prashanth Nuggehalli Srinivas)....Pages 67-95 Inequities in Health in India and Dalit and Adivasi Populations (Sudharshini Subramaniam)....Pages 97-120 Gender-Based Inequities in Health in India (Priyadarshini Chidambaram)....Pages 121-156 Other Socially Constructed Vulnerabilities: Focus on People Living with HIV/AIDS and Internal Migrants (Grace A. Chitra)....Pages 157-188 The Role of the Health System (Rakhal Gaitonde)....Pages 189-220 Health Equity Research: A Political Project (T. K. Sundari Ravindran, Rakhal Gaitonde, Prashanth Nuggehalli Srinivas, Sudharshini Subramaniam, Priyadarshini Chidambaram, Grace A. Chitra)....Pages 221-239