Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India

India spends 6 percent of its GDP on health-three times the amount spent by Indonesia and twice that of China-and spending on non-chronic morbidities is three times that of chronic illnesses. It is normally assumed that the high spending on non-chr...

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Main Authors: Das, Jishnu, Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/02/2156912/short-not-sweet-new-evidence-short-duration-morbidities-india
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19121
id okr-10986-19121
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-191212021-04-23T14:03:42Z Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India Das, Jishnu Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina HEALTH CARE; PUBLIC SPENDING; MORBIDITY; CHRONICALLY ILL CARE; FATALITIES; DISABILITY LEVEL; DATA COLLECTING; HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS; DISEASE BURDEN; MEDICAL CARE COSTS; HEALTH CARE COST CONTROL; INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ALLERGIES ANXIETY CHRONIC MORBIDITY DEMOGRAPHICS DIABETES DISPENSARIES DOCTORS ECONOMICS ECONOMICS OF HEALTH ECONOMIES OF SCALE EMPLOYMENT EXPENDITURES FAMILIES GENDER HEALTH BEHAVIOR HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS HEALTH COSTS HEALTH EXPENDITURE HEALTH EXPENDITURES HEALTH INSURANCE HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH STATUS HOMES HOSPITAL CARE HOSPITALS HOUSEHOLDS INCOME INCOME LEVELS INFORMAL SECTOR INJURIES LABOR FORCE LABOR SUPPLY LEPROSY LIVING CONDITIONS LIVING STANDARDS LOW INCOME MALARIA MEDICAL CARE MEDICINES MORBIDITY NEIGHBORHOODS OUTPATIENT CARE PHARMACIES PHARMACY POLICY RESEARCH POLLUTION POLLUTION LEVELS PRIMARY CARE PRIVATE SECTOR PROBABILITY PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC SECTOR QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE RESEARCH AGENDA SCALE ECONOMIES SCHOOLS WALKING India spends 6 percent of its GDP on health-three times the amount spent by Indonesia and twice that of China-and spending on non-chronic morbidities is three times that of chronic illnesses. It is normally assumed that the high spending on non-chronic illnesses reflects the prevalence of morbidities with high case-fatality or case-disability ratios. But there is little data that can be used to separate out spending by type of illness. The authors address this issue with a unique dataset where 1,621 individuals in Delhi were observed for 16 weeks through detailed weekly interviews on morbidity and health-seeking behavior. The authors' findings are surprising and contrary to the normal view of health spending. They define a new class of illnesses as "short duration morbidities" if they are classified as non-chronic in the international classification of disease and are medically expected to last less than two weeks. The authors show that short duration morbidities are important in terms of prevalence, practitioner visits, and household health expenditure: Individuals report a short duration morbidity in one out of every five weeks. Moreover, one out of every three weeks reported with a short duration morbidity results in a doctor visit, and each week sick with such a morbidity increases health expenditure by 25 percent. Further, the absolute spending on short duration morbidities is similar across poor and rich income households. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in understanding household health behavior in an urban context, with special emphasis on the role of information in health-seeking behavior. 2014-07-31T16:47:25Z 2014-07-31T16:47:25Z 2003-02 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/02/2156912/short-not-sweet-new-evidence-short-duration-morbidities-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19121 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2971 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Asia India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic HEALTH CARE; PUBLIC SPENDING; MORBIDITY; CHRONICALLY ILL CARE; FATALITIES; DISABILITY LEVEL; DATA COLLECTING; HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS; DISEASE BURDEN; MEDICAL CARE COSTS; HEALTH CARE COST CONTROL; INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ALLERGIES
ANXIETY
CHRONIC MORBIDITY
DEMOGRAPHICS
DIABETES
DISPENSARIES
DOCTORS
ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS OF HEALTH
ECONOMIES OF SCALE
EMPLOYMENT
EXPENDITURES
FAMILIES
GENDER
HEALTH BEHAVIOR
HEALTH CARE
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
HEALTH COSTS
HEALTH EXPENDITURE
HEALTH EXPENDITURES
HEALTH INSURANCE
HEALTH OUTCOMES
HEALTH SERVICES
HEALTH STATUS
HOMES
HOSPITAL CARE
HOSPITALS
HOUSEHOLDS
INCOME
INCOME LEVELS
INFORMAL SECTOR
INJURIES
LABOR FORCE
LABOR SUPPLY
LEPROSY
LIVING CONDITIONS
LIVING STANDARDS
LOW INCOME
MALARIA
MEDICAL CARE
MEDICINES
MORBIDITY
NEIGHBORHOODS
OUTPATIENT CARE
PHARMACIES
PHARMACY
POLICY RESEARCH
POLLUTION
POLLUTION LEVELS
PRIMARY CARE
PRIVATE SECTOR
PROBABILITY
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC SECTOR
QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE
RESEARCH AGENDA
SCALE ECONOMIES
SCHOOLS
WALKING
spellingShingle HEALTH CARE; PUBLIC SPENDING; MORBIDITY; CHRONICALLY ILL CARE; FATALITIES; DISABILITY LEVEL; DATA COLLECTING; HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS; DISEASE BURDEN; MEDICAL CARE COSTS; HEALTH CARE COST CONTROL; INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ALLERGIES
ANXIETY
CHRONIC MORBIDITY
DEMOGRAPHICS
DIABETES
DISPENSARIES
DOCTORS
ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS OF HEALTH
ECONOMIES OF SCALE
EMPLOYMENT
EXPENDITURES
FAMILIES
GENDER
HEALTH BEHAVIOR
HEALTH CARE
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
HEALTH COSTS
HEALTH EXPENDITURE
HEALTH EXPENDITURES
HEALTH INSURANCE
HEALTH OUTCOMES
HEALTH SERVICES
HEALTH STATUS
HOMES
HOSPITAL CARE
HOSPITALS
HOUSEHOLDS
INCOME
INCOME LEVELS
INFORMAL SECTOR
INJURIES
LABOR FORCE
LABOR SUPPLY
LEPROSY
LIVING CONDITIONS
LIVING STANDARDS
LOW INCOME
MALARIA
MEDICAL CARE
MEDICINES
MORBIDITY
NEIGHBORHOODS
OUTPATIENT CARE
PHARMACIES
PHARMACY
POLICY RESEARCH
POLLUTION
POLLUTION LEVELS
PRIMARY CARE
PRIVATE SECTOR
PROBABILITY
PUBLIC HEALTH
PUBLIC SECTOR
QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE
RESEARCH AGENDA
SCALE ECONOMIES
SCHOOLS
WALKING
Das, Jishnu
Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India
geographic_facet South Asia
India
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2971
description India spends 6 percent of its GDP on health-three times the amount spent by Indonesia and twice that of China-and spending on non-chronic morbidities is three times that of chronic illnesses. It is normally assumed that the high spending on non-chronic illnesses reflects the prevalence of morbidities with high case-fatality or case-disability ratios. But there is little data that can be used to separate out spending by type of illness. The authors address this issue with a unique dataset where 1,621 individuals in Delhi were observed for 16 weeks through detailed weekly interviews on morbidity and health-seeking behavior. The authors' findings are surprising and contrary to the normal view of health spending. They define a new class of illnesses as "short duration morbidities" if they are classified as non-chronic in the international classification of disease and are medically expected to last less than two weeks. The authors show that short duration morbidities are important in terms of prevalence, practitioner visits, and household health expenditure: Individuals report a short duration morbidity in one out of every five weeks. Moreover, one out of every three weeks reported with a short duration morbidity results in a doctor visit, and each week sick with such a morbidity increases health expenditure by 25 percent. Further, the absolute spending on short duration morbidities is similar across poor and rich income households. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in understanding household health behavior in an urban context, with special emphasis on the role of information in health-seeking behavior.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Das, Jishnu
Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
author_facet Das, Jishnu
Sánchez-Páramo, Carolina
author_sort Das, Jishnu
title Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India
title_short Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India
title_full Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India
title_fullStr Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India
title_full_unstemmed Short but not Sweet : New Evidence on Short Duration Morbidities from India
title_sort short but not sweet : new evidence on short duration morbidities from india
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/02/2156912/short-not-sweet-new-evidence-short-duration-morbidities-india
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19121
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