This paper examines the multi-dimensional nature of urban poverty with special emphasis on ill-health led deprivation. As a driver of poverty, ill-health reduces the income earning potential and increases expenditure on medication, thereby causing asset depletion, increasing debt and worsening...

Poverty needs to be measured taking into account OOP spending, since health spending is also now viewed as an essential expenditure that enhances welfare like food and other necessities. [Paper presented for consideration of the Expert Group on Poverty, Planning Commission]....

Discussions around health sector reforms in developing countries have included the issue of user fees as a possible mechanism for cost recovery as well as a technique for improving allocative efficiency. The main argument against user fees is based on the possible regressive impact on...

Empirics of catastrophic healthcare expenditure, especially in the Indian context, are often based on consumption expenditure data that inadequately informs about the ability to pay. Use of such data can generate a pro-rich bias in the estimation of catastrophic expenditure thereby suggesting...

The three policies analyzed in this document include a minimalist policy in which the government strengthens private sector delivery, an intermediate policy of providing treatment for mothers who have AIDS and their spouses, and a generous policy of providing treatment to the poorest 40 percent...

This paper examines the various issues surrounding tobacco use in India, using National Sample Survey and other data. The study points to the increase in the prevalence rates of tobacco use in both rural and urban areas as well as in both sexes in all age groups. The tentative conclusion of the...

With prices of antiretroviral drugs falling, especially in countries like India, there has been an increasing awareness that anti- retroviral therapy (ART) can be made available and accessible to a large number of individuals who are HIV positive. However, the prices still remain high enough to...