Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Human Resource Inequalities At The Base Of India's Public Health Care System, Saseendran Pallikadavath, Abhishek Singh, Reuben Ogollah, Tara Dean, William Stones

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

This paper examines the extent of inequalities in human resource provision at India's Heath Sub-Centres (HSC)—first level of service provision in the public health system. ‘Within state’ inequality explained about 71% and ‘between state’ inequality explained the remaining 29% of the overall inter-HSC inequality. The Northern states had a lower health worker share relative to the extent of their HSC provision. Contextual factors that contributed to ‘between’ and ‘within’ district inequalities were the percentages of villages connected with all-weather roads and having primary schools. Analysis demonstrates a policy and programming need to address ‘within State’ inequalities as a priority.