An Empirical Evaluation of Health Inequality in Odisha: Application of Statistical and Econometric Methods

Recently, equity in access to health services has emerged as a vital area of policy research and action. ‘Health equality’ as a national priority became an integral part of the Indian National Policy framework only after WHO’s report in 2000 stated that “Reducing health inequalities is an ethical imperative.” The present study attempts to portray the status of health deprivation across the 30 districts of Odisha and reveal its group-related dispersal. The study uses robust statistical measures of dispersion, like concentration curves, concentration index and Gini measure of per capita monthly consumption expenditure to undertake state-level analysis of the extent of health inequality. Apart from calculation of concentration indices for infant mortality rate, death rate, and birth rate, an attempt has been made to also study the association and causation through the econometric analysis of health involving estimation of a regression model, which concludes that literacy rate and head count ratio are significantly related to health inequality in Odisha. The results of the empirical study also segregate the high health inequality districts and hence call for focused intervention in such districts.