LIFE EXPECTANCY LOWER FOR URBAN POOR

About:

• The report, “Healthcare equity in urban India”, 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.
  
  
• It notes that a third of India’s population lives in urban areas, with this segment seeing a rapid growth from about 18% (1960) to 28.53% (2001) and 34% (in 2019).
  
  
• Close to 30% of people living in urban areas are poor.
  
  
• The study also draws insights from data collected through interactions with civil society organisations in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Surat, Lucknow, Guwahati, Ranchi and Delhi.
  
  
• This also included an analysis of the National Family and Health Surveys, the Census, and inputs from State-level officials on the provision of healthcare.
  
  

The report calls for

• 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’ and
  
  
• a better mechanism for coordinated public healthcare services and better governed private healthcare institutions.