ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Sunil RajpalSubscribe to Sunil Rajpal

Frequently Asked Questions on Child Anthropometric Failures in India

The National Family Health Survey is analysed to develop critical insights on child anthropometric failure in India. The analysis finds non-response of economic growth on nutritional well-being and greater burden among the poor as two fundamental concerns. This calls for strengthening developmental finance for socio-economic upliftment as well as enhanced programmatic support for nutritional interventions. The gaps in analytical inputs for programmatic purposes also deserves attention to unravel intricacies that otherwise remain obscured through customary enquiries. On the one hand, this may serve well to improve policy targeting, and on the other, this can help comprehend the nature and reasons of heterogeneities and inequities in nutritional outcomes across subgroups. Strengthening the analytical capacities of programme managers and health functionaries is recommended.

Measuring Catastrophic Healthcare Expenditure

Catastrophic household healthcare expenditure is a prominent policy concern. The National Health Policy 2017 takes explicit cognisance of this issue and presents an empirical formulation to examine its incidence and patterns. However, the policy needs to account for household size variations to counter an implicit bias that tilts the estimates to reflect a higher concentration of catastrophic expenditure among the rich. This concern is illustrated using health data from the 71st round of the National Sample Survey. Further, a minor modification to unravel the socio-economic gradient in catastrophic healthcare expenditure has also been discussed.

On the Convergence Puzzle

While there is no disagreement that widening regional disparities is an empirical fact and a major developmental concern, the inference drawn in Prerna Sanga and Abdul Shaban (“Regional Divergence and Inequalities in India,”EPW, 7 January 2017) on convergence is misleading, and disregards conceptual underpinnings.

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