ESRC Brazil–India Pathfinder Project
Both Brazil and India are emerging economies, with large populations and a burgeoning middle class. This project compares health in the two countries, focusing on health inequalities.
In recent years, there has been an unprecedented growth in the national economies of the most populous countries particularly China, India and Brazil. However, the excessive wealth created through this rapid economic growth has been disproportionate, affecting mostly the poorest-poor living in rural and urban areas including metropolitan cities.
The overarching aim of this project is to develop a trilateral research network engaging demographers, social statisticians and economists from Brazil, India and the UK to carry out a quantitative investigation of the extent of inequalities in access to health care, how these change over time and the associated determinants, with an emphasis on the poorest-poor segment of the population living in Brazil and India.
The changes over time will be evaluated in terms of whether the gap in health care access between the rich and poor have widened or narrowed and the differences between and within different social/wealth groups - focusing on three vulnerable populations: young children, young and adult women of reproductive ages and elderly women.
Proper comparison of the Brazilian and Indian datasets will provide evidence of how health care policies and programmes have operated and evolved over time in narrowing health inequalities between the rich and the poorest-poor.
Three meetings are scheduled as part of this project.
CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - 28th June - 2nd July, 2010
Population Research Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore - 8th-14th January 2011
Centre for Global Health, Population, Poverty and Policy, University of Southampton - dates to be decided
Information about the project was presented in a number of academic forums, and the presentations can be downloaded.
Dr Tiziana Leone presented at the UK Economic and Social Data Services in London.
Dr Sabu Padmadas presented at the ESRC Research Methods Festival in Oxford.
Dr Tiziana Leone also presented at the Symposium on Health Systems, Health Economies and Globalisation: Social Science Perspectives, held on the 3rd and 4th November in Delhi.
At the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research work was presented on the comparison of the health systems in the two countries and linking this to inequalities and the health reforms. This is work conducted by Dr Tiziana Leone, Dr Amos Channon, Professor Kenya Noronha and Dr TR Dilip.
People involved in the project
Dr Sabu Padmadas University of Southampton
Dr Andrew "Amos" Channon University of Southampton
Dr Fiifi Amoako Johnson University of Southampton
Professor Maria Evandrou University of Southampton
Professor Zoe Matthews University of Southampton
Professor Jane Falkingham University of Southampton
Dr Tiziana Leone London School of Economics
Dr Saseendran Pallikadavath University of Portsmouth
Professor KS James Population Research Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, India
Dr Lekha Subaiya Population Research Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, India
Dr Udaya S Mishra Centre for Development Studies, Kerala, India
Dr Abhishek Singh International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India
Dr Dilip T R Public Health Foundation of India, Delhi, India
Professor André Junqueira Caetano CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Professor Eduardo L. G. Rios Neto CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Professor Ernesto Amaral CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Professor Monica Viegas Andrade CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Professor Kenya Micaela Noronha CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Cristina Guimaraes Rodrigues CEDEPLAR, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil