Life expectancy lower for urban poor, says study

What is the News?

Azim Premji University has released a report titled “Healthcare equity in urban India”.

What is the purpose of the report?

The report 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.

What are the key findings of the report?

Urban Population: A third of India’s population lives in urban areas. There was a rapid growth in this segment from about 18% (1960) to 28.53% (2001) and 34% (in 2019).

Rise in Urban poverty: Close to 30% of people living in urban areas are poor.

Declining life expectancy: Life expectancy among the poorest sections of society in urban areas when compared to the richest economic groups is lower by 9.1 years and 6.2 years for men and women respectively.

Bad Urban health governance: There is a chaotic urban governance due to a) Overlapping administrative jurisdictions such as that of municipal corporations (urban local bodies) and state health services and b) multiplicity of healthcare providers both within and outside the government without coordination.

Lack of research on Urban Healthcare: Urban healthcare has received relatively less research and policy attention.

What are the recommendations given by the report?

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.

-A better mechanism for coordinated public healthcare services and better governed private healthcare institutions.

Source: This post is based on the article “Life expectancy lower for urban poor, says study” published by The Hindu on 21st Nov 2021.