Maternity or catastrophe: A study of household expenditure on maternal health care in India

Abstract

See, stats, and : https : / / www . researchgate . net / publication / 257875102 Maternity : A expenditure Article DOI : 10 . 4236 / health . 2013 . 51015 CITATIONS 5 READS 62 3 , including : Aditya University 21 SEE All - text , letting . Available : Aditya Retrieved : 17 ABSTRACT Using data from 60 th round of the National Sam - ple Survey , this study attempts to measure the incidence and intensity of ' catastrophic ' mater - nal health care expenditure and examines its socio - economic correlates in urban and rural areas separately . Additionally , it measures the ef - fect of maternal health care expenditure on po - verty incidence and examines the factors asso - ciated with such impoverishment due to mater - nal health care payments . We found that mater - nal health care expenditure in urban households was almost twice that of rural households . A little more than one third households suffered catastrophic payments in both urban and rural areas . Rural women from scheduled tribes (ST) had more catastrophic head counts than ST women from urban areas . On the other hand , the catastrophic head count was greater among il - literate women living in urban areas compared to those living in rural areas . After adjusting for out - of - pocket maternal health care expenditure , the poverty in urban and rural areas increased by almost equal percentage points (20% in urban areas versus 19% in rural areas) . Increasing edu - cation level , higher consumption expenditure quintile and higher caste of women was asso - ciated with increasing odds of impoverishment due to maternal health care expenditure . To re - duce maternal health care expenditure induced poverty , the demand - side maternal health care financing programs and policies in future should take into consideration all the costs incurred during prenatal , delivery and postnatal periods and focus not only on those women who suf - fered catastrophic expenditure and plunged into poverty but also those who forgo maternal health care due to their inability to pay .