Health Inequalities in Under-Five Mortality: An Assessment of Empowered Action Group (EAG) States of India

Abstract

Background: The effect of childhood well-being programs is commonly interconnected with a change in mortality trends. The proportion of disparity shows that inequality in child mortality is more collective in the similarly evolved states than the poorer states in India. Objective: To estimate and compare the health inequality of under-five mortality in Empowered Action groups (EAG) states of India. Methods: Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) was used only for the EAG States of India. Under-five mortality rates (U5MR) were calculated for associated background characteristics by using the life table method. Wealth inequality was assessed separately for all EAG states by calculating measures of concentration index (CI). Concentration curves (CC) were also plotted to see the difference in inequality. Results: Higher U5MR was observed in all EAG states compared with estimates for overall India. On comparing estimates of inequality, CI values show the substantial burden of U5MR among EAG states of India. The CC shows the lowest inequality in EAG states of India. Conclusion: The results suggested the need to receive various health strategy intercessions in agreement with the instance of ever-changing commitments of economic components to child health disparities in EAG states. Measuring the impact of determinants to wealth-related inequality in U5MR helps in lining up the interventions targeted at improving child survival.