New Delhi, Dec 2 – Women have a slightly lower chance of falling sick compared to men but they lose more days at work from being ill, a study on India’s healthcare system has found.
The study by Global Development Network (GDN) shows women work fewer days in a year and as a result lose nearly 15 per cent of their work days to illness while men lose only six per cent, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
“Being ill, therefore, has a greater impact on a woman’s income than that of a man. On the other hand, women’s health expenditures tend to increase more compared to men,” GDN said in its working Paper titled ‘Managing Healthcare Provision and Health Outcomes through Local Governance’.
The paper revealed significant positive impact of local governance and empowerment of women, and complex and sometimes surprising similarities in illness and treatment impact on men and women.
“Sickness is significantly reduced through improved access to drinking water, clean surroundings and awareness about health campaigns. These factors reduce the use of public and private healthcare as well as private health expenditures,” it said.
A family’s inherited wealth reduces the incidence of illness almost equally for both men and women, and reduces private health expenditures slightly more for women than for men.
“This is suggestive of some discrimination within families with regard to healthcare access. Individual empowerment as a result of inheritance of land by a woman has an overall positive impact on her health and use of healthcare,” the study said.
The study also found the positive impact of political empowerment on both men and women, for instance reservation of the Pradhan’s (chief councilor) position for women.
GDN is a New Delhi-based public international organisation that builds
research capacity in development.
–Bernama
