MEASURING DISPARITY IN CHILD HEALTH CARE IN INDIA

This paper tests a set of child health care indicators for predicting disparity, with applications to data from DLHS II (2002-04) and III (2006-07). The Index of Disparity (ID), has been used to compare several dimensions of child health care including breastfeeding, immunization and treatment received when ill. The ID is used to examine trends in disparity across states over time. Disparity is highest for children breastfed within one hour of birth (109.17 %) and the least for treatment sought for acute respiratory infection (ARI) (5.75 %) for the period 2002-04, followed by the period 2006-07 with change in magnitude. Across states, ID per child health care indicator varies. In Karnataka, the highest ID is among Vitamin-A receivers (19.4 %) and the least for treatment received when ill from ARI (10.2 %). In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh breastfeeding has been found with highest disparity and the least among Vitamin-A receivers (7.5 %) and treatment sought for Diarrhea (17.2 %). The ID simplifies to understand the variations and the need to emphasize on an approach to solve child health care problems.