Some Public Health Issues in India

Abstract

This article deals first with the inequality in healthcare provision between advanced capitalist countries and developing countries and their outcomes in lower longevity and higher IMRs in the latter. It also argues that within the advanced countries, those with a lower degree of inequality between different population groups and a more robust public healthcare system perform better in terms of healthcare systems. It then goes on to concentrate on the situation in India. It points out that neoliberal reforms, including the increasing privatization of health care has made access to health care much more difficult for the poorest and the marginalized sections of the population. It then goes to argue that the Adivasis, except in Northeast India, form the most disadvantaged group in socio-economic terms. They are the least educated, have the worst access to health care and a large section of them have lost their land access to forest products because of the incursion of mining enterprises into their usual habitats. The result has been that not only are their health outcomes much worse than that of the general population, in some cases they have even deteriorated over time.