Response of Health Outcomes to Health Infrastructure:Evidence from Bihar and Tamil Nadu

Despite significant growth of health programmes, improvement in health outcome, indicators are uneven across in India in health infrastructure. This paper attempts to estimate the extent of variation in health infrastructure and its impact on health outcomes in Bihar and Tamil Nadu. The question is whether the public health system is significant in explaining health status of people. The study measures the response of health outcomes to improvement in health infrastructure. Data is largely drawn from Census of India, 2011 and Annual Health Survey, 2010-2011. Infant mortality and under-five mortality were taken as the outcome variable. Using different components of health infrastructure indicators, a health infrastructure index was constructed. The findings reveal that poor health infrastructure is a significant constraint in achieving better health outcomes. Like demand side factors, supply side factors play an important role in health care system. Besides, education of women improves health outcome indicators.