Abstract

Extant literature is full of studies on socio-economic inequalities in maternal and child health in India but studies on inequalities in risk of diseases are limited. We use data from India Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted in 2004-05 to test two hypotheses: first, diabetes and high blood pressure are associated with affluence; and second, tuberculosis and mental illness are associated with poverty. We use rich-poor ratio, concentration curves, adjusted concentration indices, dominance test, and binary logistic regression to test the aforementioned hypotheses. The findings suggest that diabetes and high blood pressure are indeed associated with affluence. But we could not find evidence to support our second hypothesis. Also, rich and poor were equally likely to get cancer or the heart diseases. Indeed, the risk factors were disproportionately distributed, particularly to the disadvantage of the poor.

Key words: Disease, affluence, poverty, concentration curves and indices, dominance.