Wealth Inequality and Utilization of Reproductive and Child Health Services in Uttar Pradesh

At global development agenda, reduction of inequality in utilization of Reproductive and Child Health services across space has been accorded at top priority. In India, Reproductive and Child care is an essential component of its basic health care services. Using third round of District Level Household Survey(2007-08) data, this study examines variation in RCH services across different demographic, socio-economic groups and regions in Uttar Pradesh. The DLHS collected information on wide range of topics: fertility, family-planning, maternal and child health, living condition of household, health infrastructure and other variables. The study was carried out for six services namely Full antenatal care, Post natal care, Safe delivery, Contraceptive use, Unmet need of Family Planning and Child Immunization. For inter-district comparison a composite index of these services has been computed. The Bi-variate and multivariate analysis has been carried out for analysis. Preliminary results show that though utilization of reproductive and child health services has improved in state there is huge interstate and social group disparity in utilization of these services. The multivariate analysis on RCH services indicate that years of schooling and economic status are significant determinants of utilization of RCH services in Uttar Pradesh.