Articles by Gita Sen

India's steps towards universal health coverage began in the early years after Independence but they faltered because of various factors, including resource constraints. The context has vastly changed since then but the need remains as urgent as it always was. This overview to the special issue on the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage notes that the report takes into account the complex nature of the health situation in the country and puts forth an integrated blueprint for achieving UHC. There may be a few shortcomings, but if the interlinked proposals are implemented in a carefully planned manner, a long-delayed promise to the country's people could be largely fulfilled.

Preliminary results of an analysis of data sets on morbidity and health care utilisation from two NSS surveys in the 1980s and 1990s together with empirical results of other studies points the worsening of class-based inequalities in access to health services for both men and women. While gender inequity, particularly in untreated morbidity, appears to have remained severe, also seen is a relative worsening of access for poor men over this period, even though in absolute terms men are better off than poor women.