Research on inequities and inequalities in health in India: A mapping of the field

Abstract

This chapter provides a summary of the methodology used for the synthesis of evidence presented in the core chapters (Chaps. 4-8) of the book. The chapter starts with presenting an overview of the search strategy used, the number of papers included in the synthesis exercise, and the axes of inequalities and the areas of health covered by the papers. It also provides a mapping of authors and institutions that produced this literature, their locations and disciplinary backgrounds. Overall we reviewed 224 individual papers with many of them being used in more than one chapter. The mapping of the individuals and institutions that actually did the research showed a preponderance of foreign institutions, a dominance of the econometric, demographic approaches, with very little of social and political sciences informing the literature. The methodology adopted for the synthesis included in individual chapters consisted of two steps. Each chapter first summarised the key findings from the papers. It then attempted to critique the methodological and conceptual approaches represented in the body of evidence, drawing on the perspective developed in Chap. 2. Further, the individual chapters, by reading papers and looking at patterns and trends within and across papers, attempted to identify key mechanisms contributing to health inequities implicit in the literature.