Disparities in Child Health Status: Evidence from the Backward Districts of West Bengal

Abstract

The health of children is a fundamental measure of a nation's overall welfare and progress. It reflects both the physical and emotional health of the youngest members of society, as well as the efficacy of public health initiatives, socioeconomic fairness, and access to necessary services. Therefore, the main emphasis of this research is to use a composite child health index (CHI) to analyze the variations in child health across the backward districts of West Bengal and also to identify the factors encouraging child health using National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data for the period 2015-16 and 2019-21. The study suggests an improvement in the child health status over time considering all districts. In 2015-16, the CHI values ranged from a minimum of 23.334 to a maximum of 30.812, with a mean value of 27.048. In 2019-21, the CHI values improved, with the minimum value rising to 28.529 and the maximum to 32.793, while the mean increased to 30.560, reflecting better overall child health. The encouraging factors of child health in backward districts of West Bengal turned out to be percentage of Women who are literate, percentage of Population living in households using improved sanitation facility, number of Sub Centres, number of Primary Health Centres, percentage of Households using iodized salt and number of District Hospitals.