ABSTRACT:
Accessing healthcare is everyone’s right and need, but it depends on multiple factors including but not limited to autonomy of resources, structural inequalities, and gendered roles. Prior literature highlights the deep-rooted inequalities among healthcare access with respect to women1-2. However, limited researchers have tried to measure the multifaceted nature of vulnerabilities associated with women’s healthcare access. To fill the gap, the paper constructs a multidimensional healthcare access vulnerability index of women using the Alkire-Foster framework3-4, focusing specifically on women experiencing non-communicable diseases. The index comprises four women centric dimensions, that are financial deprivation, educational and informational deprivation, gendered barriers to healthcare access, and decision-making deprivation. The paper employs the fifth round of the national family health survey of India that primarily focuses on health women and children. Results show that 54.7% (H=0.547) of women suffering with non-communicable diseases are vulnerable to one deprivation at least. Further, 47.9% (A=0.479) on average suffer from multiple deprivations among the deprived women. Moreover, approximately 26.2% of all the women with non-communicable diseases experience multidimensional vulnerabilities in accessing healthcare services in India. Women suffering with non-communicable disease in states like Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Himachal Pradesh have lower multidimensional healthcare access vulnerability, while they are more vulnerable in states like Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar. The study provides an index that can help researchers and policy makers to formulate target-based interventions.