Oxfam report highlights sharp inequalities in health indicators

Oxfam report highlights sharp inequalities in health indicators

Subject: National Reports

Context: India Inequality Report 2021: India’s Unequal Healthcare Story has been published by Oxfam India

Concept:

• India’s low spending on public healthcare systems and focus on supporting private healthcare has led to serious inequalities in access to healthcare, especially during the Covid 19 pandemic.
• The average medical expenditure per hospitalisation case has tripled between 2004 and 2017, making it difficult for poorer and rural households.
• Rural India houses 70 percent of the population, while it has 40 percent of hospital beds.
• Sharp inequalities exist across different caste, religious, class and gender categories on various health indicators.
• The General category is better off than SCs and STs, Hindus are better off than Muslims, the rich are better off than the poor, men are better off than women, and the urban population is better off than the rural population” on most health determinants, interventions and indicators including access to improved, non-shared sanitation facilities.
• Vaccination drive against Covid-19 ignores the country’s digital divide.
• Despite improvement in child immunisation, the rate of immunisation of girls continues to be below that of the male child; immunisation of children in urban areas is more than those in rural areas; and immunization of SCs and STs is behind that of other caste groups.
• While women’s literacy has improved across social groups over the years, SC and ST women lag behind the general category by 18.6% and 27.9% respectively.
• There exists a gap of 55.1% between the top and bottom 20% of the population in 2015-16.
• The Oxfam report has marked the state of Kerala as a success story in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

About Oxfam

• Oxfam is a confederation of independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty.
• It was founded in 1942 and is led by Oxfam International.