GENDER INEQUALITY IN HOUSEHOLD HEALTH EXPENDITURE: THE CASE OF URBAN ORISSA

Biologically determined sex and socially constructed gender have strong bearing on the household out-of-pocket health expenditure. In this connection, the present makes an modest attempt to study the gender inequalities in household health expenditure in urban Orissa. The study shows that there is a significant difference between male and female out-of-pocket health expenditure in urban area. But the female out-of-pocket health expenditure in urban area is more than that of rural and tribal areas. The regression model indicates that the male out-of-pocket health expenditure influences per head out-of-pocket health expenditure by fifty-nine per cent where as female influence is fifty-four per cent. It means male influences out-of-pocket health expenditure more than the female in urban area. In this connection, to reduce this gender inequality, men, first, recognize the roles and contributions of female in family as well as in the society. Secondly, women actively participate in all household decision making process and have the power to speak out their problems. Thirdly, cooperation, coordination, sharing and understanding between men and women is essential. Fourthly, male and female educational level has a positive role to bring equality between men and women in household and societal decision making process.Out-of-pocket Health Expenditure, Sex and Gender, Urban area

INFLUENCE OF INCOME AND EDUCATION ON HOUSEHOLD HEALTH EXPENDITURE: THE CASE OF TRIBAL ORISSA

Most of the health economics researches dealt with macro aspects of it. Little attention has been given to the micro aspects of Health Economics by the researchers, government, policy makers and development planners. In this context the present study examines the effect of income and education of the household on its health expenditure based on primary data. The descriptive statistics for tribal area shows that per head income (PHI) is Rs. 5143.75 per annum with 2555.27 and 0.5 as standard deviation and coefficient variation respectively where as per head health expenditure (PHE) is Rs. 108.13 per annum with 91.36 and 0.84 as standard deviation and coefficient variation respectively. The mean education is 0.22 with 0.41 and 1.91 as standard deviation and coefficient variation respectively. To find out the impact of household income (PHI) and education of the head of the household (EDN) on the pattern of health expenditure (PHE) a linear regression model is found to be fitted as PHET = 31.37 + 0.43PHI + 0.06EDN with R2 value 0.18, which indicates that, ceteris paribus, a rupee increase income brings about forty-three paise increase health expenditure and an educated person on an average spends six paise more in a rupee than the uneducated person on health expenditure in tribal area.Household health expenditure, Income, Education

SEX, GENDER AND HEALTH: A CONCEPTUAL NOTE

The paper is a conceptual note on Sex, Gender and Health. It also explains the relationship among them. Gender is different from Sex. “Sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. “Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. Little systematic research has been done on the social causes of ill-health. The paper draws the attention of the health researchers to concentrate more on the gender aspects of health research. The good news is that gender norms and values are not fixed. They evolve over time, vary substantially from place to place, and are subject to change. Thus, the poor health consequences resulting from gender differences and gender inequalities are not fixed, either. They can be changed for better.Sex, Gender, Health

Determinants of Household Health Expenditure: Case of Urban Orissa

The main objective of the paper is to increase awareness – not only among health researchers but also among policy makers and practitioners who use health research findings – about the influence of socioeconomic characteristics in terms of income and education on household health expenditures, as well as to encourage improved approaches. The study finds that income of the household has significant influence on its health expenditure where as the effect of education is insignificant. From the study it is found that as disposable income of the household increases, individual takes more care of his life, hence, health expenditure increases but at a particular level of income, due to high life risk, health expenditure becomes independent of income and perfectly elastic, which is termed as “High Life Risk Path (HLRP)”. The health expenditure during HLRP depends on household’s past saving and loanable capacity.Household Health Expenditure, Income and Health

DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD HEALTH EXPENDITURE: CASE OF URBAN ORISSA

Little attention has been given to the micro aspects of health research by the researchers, government, policy makers and development planners. In this connection, the objective of the paper is to increase awareness – not only among health researchers but also among policy makers and practitioners who use health research findings – about the influence of socioeconomic characteristics in terms of income and education on household health expenditures, as well as to encourage improved approaches. The study finds that income of the household has significant influence on its health expenditure where as the effect of education is insignificant. From the study it is found that as disposable income of the household increases, individual takes more care of his life, hence, health expenditure increases but at a particular level of income, due to high life risk, health expenditure becomes independent of income and perfectly elastic, which is termed as “High Life Risk Path (HLRP)”. The health expenditure during HLRP depends on household’s past saving and loanable capacity.Household Health Expenditure, Urban Orissa, Income, Education

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT: DIMENSIONS AND STRATEGIES – INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

Achieving Gender parity has become a great concern for the world today. It is considered as a part of development strategy in many countries. When all people- both men and women have equal access to services and resources, enjoy equal rights, and get equal opportunity to develop capabilities without any bias or preferences , then the development of the country would be faster. It strengthens countries' abilities to grow, to reduce poverty, and to govern effectively. Despite considerable efforts in advocacy, creation of awareness, different strategies and programmes, Gender discrimination remains pervasive in many dimensions of life-worldwide. Though the nature and magnitude of the discrimination vary from country to country, in no part of the world gender parity is completely achieved in legal, social and economic fronts. Gender gaps are widespread in access to and control of resources, in economic opportunities, in power, and political voice. Women are still exploited, discriminated, and subject to harassment and violence. Again in the current years the focus has been changed from women empowerment to gender development. The former is a mean but not all for gender parity. In this perspective an edited volume covering the various dimensions and strategies of gender development is highly imperative. Rural women are mainly employed in agriculture-its allied activities and agro-based enterprises. There exists a glaring gender bias in terms of ownership , nature of works assigned, wages payment ,freedom in choice of work. Though the women contribute a significant proportion of agricultural production, they are discriminated, ill-paid and their role is largely neglected. There is a need for an appropriate legal-institutional frame work, change of societal attitude, and supported mechanization of agriculture on the need of lessening drudgery activities and work-stress for women, in reducing gender disparity in agriculture sector and sustainable development. Similarly the women, nearly half of the total population, are lagging behind in access to the existing health care and educational opportunities in the country. A proper level of awareness and conducive environment need to be developed for this. Promotion of health, education and an appropriate level of awareness will largely contribute to women development and facilitate them to enjoy their right. More over provision of employment and economic empowerment of women can be considered as one of the important dimensions of gender development. Formation of Self Help Group among poor women those are unable to access market individually, on their own capacity and provision of micro credit financing to them are great support and help them to start income generating micro enterprises and get rid of poverty. This not only helps to empower women but also provides them economic and social justice. This is an initiative to address these issues and draw the attention of the policy makers and planners.Women in Development, Gender and Development

HEALTH AND HEALTH ECONOMICS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Over the last three decades, treating health economics as an independent scientific discipline and providing specific treatment to the topics related to the economics of the health care sector have become more and more common. Currently, the field is so well established that it has appeared in the ordinary curriculum of most universities, and even if health economists are mainly to be found in the medical departments, the connections to economics proper are being strengthened, and the methodologies applied are getting refined. In this connection the paper highlights about the concept of health, why does health matter, relationship between health and Health Economics, and the justification of health economics

HEALTH AND HEALTH ECONOMICS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Over the last three decades, treating health economics as an independent scientific discipline and providing specific treatment to the topics related to the economics of the health care sector have become more and more common. Currently, the field is so well established that it has appeared in the ordinary curriculum of most universities, and even if health economists are mainly to be found in the medical departments, the connections to economics proper are being strengthened, and the methodologies applied are getting refined. In this connection the paper highlights about the concept of health, why does health matter, relationship between health and Health Economics, and the justification of health economics.Health and Health Economics

GENDER INEQUALITY IN HOUSEHOLD HEALTH EXPENDITURE: THE CASE OF URBAN ORISSA

Biologically determined sex and socially constructed gender have strong bearing on the household out-of-pocket health expenditure. In this connection, the present makes an modest attempt to study the gender inequalities in household health expenditure in urban Orissa. The study shows that there is a significant difference between male and female out-of-pocket health expenditure in urban area. But the female out-of-pocket health expenditure in urban area is more than that of rural and tribal areas. The regression model indicates that the male out-of-pocket health expenditure influences per head out-of-pocket health expenditure by fifty-nine per cent where as female influence is fifty-four per cent. It means male influences out-of-pocket health expenditure more than the female in urban area. In this connection, to reduce this gender inequality, men, first, recognize the roles and contributions of female in family as well as in the society. Secondly, women actively participate in all household decision making process and have the power to speak out their problems. Thirdly, cooperation, coordination, sharing and understanding between men and women is essential. Fourthly, male and female educational level has a positive role to bring equality between men and women in household and societal decision making process

LINKAGES BETWEEN INCOME, EDUCATION AND HEALTH: CASE OF RURAL ORISSA

The study examines the effect of income and education of the household on its health expenditure, based on primary data collected from Jajpur district of Orissa. Multi-stage random sampling method is adopted to select households (HHs), i.e., sampling unit. The descriptive statistics shows that per capita income and per capita health expenditure are Rs.9, 820.02 and Rs.870.10 respectively per annum. The mean education is 0.94. In rural Orissa, an average person spends around nine per cent of his/her income on health expenditure from his own pocket. To find out the impact of income and education on health expenditure, a linear regression model is fitted as PHE = 70.001 + 0.62PHI + 0.03EDN with R2 value 0.39 which indicates that, a rupee increase income brings about 62 Paise increase health expenditure of a person and an educated person on an average spends three paise more in a rupee than the uneducated person on health expenditure in rural area. This shows that income has greater positive effect on health expenditure than education. To improve the health status of the people, extreme poverty and hunger should be eradicated which is the first goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The health planners and administrators should be involved in the planning process of the government to reduce poverty and adopt policies for more equitable distribution of income. They can also recommend to have a specific health tax (an earmarked or so-called hypothecated tax) devoted to health care. Again spending more on health services does not necessarily buy better health. It needs an efficient management and use of resources. The principle of equality for opportunity for access to services on the basis of need and equal risk, irrespective of ability to pay should be followed