{"title":"Distress Financing for Institutional Delivery in India: A Regional Analysis of Economic Inequality, Coping Mechanisms, and Contributing Factors.","authors":"Puja Pal, Juel Rana","doi":"10.1002/hpm.3950","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Financial hardship is among the significant challenges in the utilization of maternal healthcare services in India. It is further aggravated by the issue of inequality in the distress financing (DF) for institutional delivery (ID) which pushes the poor into a vicious cycle of poverty. The paper examines the pattern of inequality and regional variation in DF for ID in India. It also determines the factor contributing to the inequality in the DF for ID among a few selected states.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The paper uses unit-level data from the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) round conducted during 2019-21. The concentration curve (CC) and concentration index (CI) capture the inequalities in DF for ID. Also, the decomposition analysis of CI was performed to capture the contribution of key determinants in explaining the inequality in DF for ID.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The study reveals that 16.3% of women in India incurred DF for ID, with the poorest quintile facing the highest burden (21.2%). Significant regional variations exist, with states like Telangana (30%) and Manipur (29.9%) showing the highest DF rates. Borrowing is the primary coping mechanism, particularly among the poorest. The concentration index (CI) analysis indicates that DF dominates among poorer women across states. Decomposition analysis highlights wealth status and education as the major contributors to inequality in DF, with significant regional disparities.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Addressing DF for ID requires strengthening maternity benefit schemes like Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to cover indirect costs and ensure timely disbursements while curbing informal charges. Reducing out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) through improving accessibility and quality of public hospitals and regulation of private facility fees is essential. Alongside, expanding health insurance for comprehensive maternity care is essential, particularly in high-inequality states like Telangana, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Promoting women's education and economic empowerment, could play a critical role in mitigating long-term disparities in healthcare.</p>","PeriodicalId":47637,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Health Planning and Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Health Planning and Management","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3950","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Financial hardship is among the significant challenges in the utilization of maternal healthcare services in India. It is further aggravated by the issue of inequality in the distress financing (DF) for institutional delivery (ID) which pushes the poor into a vicious cycle of poverty. The paper examines the pattern of inequality and regional variation in DF for ID in India. It also determines the factor contributing to the inequality in the DF for ID among a few selected states.
Methods: The paper uses unit-level data from the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) round conducted during 2019-21. The concentration curve (CC) and concentration index (CI) capture the inequalities in DF for ID. Also, the decomposition analysis of CI was performed to capture the contribution of key determinants in explaining the inequality in DF for ID.
Results: The study reveals that 16.3% of women in India incurred DF for ID, with the poorest quintile facing the highest burden (21.2%). Significant regional variations exist, with states like Telangana (30%) and Manipur (29.9%) showing the highest DF rates. Borrowing is the primary coping mechanism, particularly among the poorest. The concentration index (CI) analysis indicates that DF dominates among poorer women across states. Decomposition analysis highlights wealth status and education as the major contributors to inequality in DF, with significant regional disparities.
Conclusions: Addressing DF for ID requires strengthening maternity benefit schemes like Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to cover indirect costs and ensure timely disbursements while curbing informal charges. Reducing out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) through improving accessibility and quality of public hospitals and regulation of private facility fees is essential. Alongside, expanding health insurance for comprehensive maternity care is essential, particularly in high-inequality states like Telangana, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Promoting women's education and economic empowerment, could play a critical role in mitigating long-term disparities in healthcare.
期刊介绍:
Policy making and implementation, planning and management are widely recognized as central to effective health systems and services and to better health. Globalization, and the economic circumstances facing groups of countries worldwide, meanwhile present a great challenge for health planning and management. The aim of this quarterly journal is to offer a forum for publications which direct attention to major issues in health policy, planning and management. The intention is to maintain a balance between theory and practice, from a variety of disciplines, fields and perspectives. The Journal is explicitly international and multidisciplinary in scope and appeal: articles about policy, planning and management in countries at various stages of political, social, cultural and economic development are welcomed, as are those directed at the different levels (national, regional, local) of the health sector. Manuscripts are invited from a spectrum of different disciplines e.g., (the social sciences, management and medicine) as long as they advance our knowledge and understanding of the health sector. The Journal is therefore global, and eclectic.