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Economic burden of cancer in India: Evidence from cross-sectional nationally representative household survey, 2014

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  • Sunil Rajpal
  • Abhishek Kumar
  • William Joe

Abstract

With the ongoing demographic and epidemiological transition, cancer is emerging as a major public health concern in India. This paper uses nationally representative household survey to examine the overall prevalence and economic burden of cancer in India. The age-standardized prevalence of cancer is estimated to be 97 per 100,000 persons with greater prevalence in urban areas. The evidence suggests that cancer prevalence is highest among the elderly and also among females in the reproductive age groups. Cancer displays a significant socioeconomic gradient even after adjusting for age-sex specifics and clustering in a multilevel regression framework. We find that out of pocket expenditure on cancer treatment is among the highest for any ailment. The average out of pocket spending on inpatient care in private facilities is about three-times that of public facilities. Furthermore, treatment for about 40 percent of cancer hospitalization cases is financed mainly through borrowings, sale of assets and contributions from friends and relatives. Also, over 60 percent of the households who seek care from the private sector incur out of pocket expenditure in excess of 20 percent of their annual per capita household expenditure. Given the catastrophic implications, this study calls for a disease-based approach towards financing such high-cost ailment. It is suggested that universal cancer care insurance should be envisaged and combined with existing accident and life insurance policies for the poorer sections in India. In concluding, we call for policies to improve cancer survivorship through effective prevention and early detection. In particular, greater public health investments in infrastructure, human resources and quality of care deserve priority attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Sunil Rajpal & Abhishek Kumar & William Joe, 2018. "Economic burden of cancer in India: Evidence from cross-sectional nationally representative household survey, 2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0193320
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193320
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    4. Kane, Sumit & Joshi, Madhura & Desai, Sapna & Mahal, Ajay & McPake, Barbara, 2022. "People's care seeking journey for a chronic illness in rural India: Implications for policy and practice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    5. Sasmita Behera & Jalandhar Pradhan, 2023. "Economic burden of cancer treatment in India: an equity perspective," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 25(2), pages 334-349, December.
    6. Hasan, Mohammad Maruf & Du, Fang, 2023. "Nexus between green financial development, green technological innovation and environmental regulation in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 218-228.
    7. Mohammad FaisalUddin & Azadeh Khayat & Azeem Husain Arastu & Javidulla Khan & Pulwasha Maria Iftikhar & Roopam Bansal & Jain Akriti, 2019. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Top 100 Most-Cited Articles in Chemotherapy (1910- 2019)," Cancer Therapy & Oncology International Journal, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 72-82, December.
    8. Jeetendra Yadav & Geetha R. Menon & Denny John, 2021. "Disease-Specific Out-of-Pocket Payments, Catastrophic Health Expenditure and Impoverishment Effects in India: An Analysis of National Health Survey Data," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 769-782, September.

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