Health Differentials Among Children In Low And High Income Strata

Research Article
Manzoor Hussain and NaziaWani
DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2017.0811.1047
Subject: 
science
KeyWords: 
Health differentials; children; low and high income strata;Srinagar district, Kashmir
Abstract: 

Children constituted one of the most vulnerable sections of the society. The relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) of individuals and their health were well documented. There was consistent evidence that the socio economically better off individuals do better on most measures of health status including mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and health care utilization. This inverse association has been detected between health outcomes and a matrix of SES indicators based on data collected at the individual, household and community levels, including the traditional education, occupation and income measures, information on household possessions and level of community development. Based on a sample of 150 child respondents the study had traced health differentials among children in low and high income strata. 50 percent sample from upper income strata and 50 percent from lower income strata were taken. Srinagar district of Jammu and Kashmir was selected as universe of the study and survey method was used for data collection. The findings revealed that the children belonging to low income strata had poor health, fall ill frequently, had less doctor consultations at the time of illness and consumed less nutritious diet. A significant number of children (19.34 percent) were anaemic and underweight and belonged to low income households as compared to only 6.67 percent children from upper income households.