Decomposing socioeconomic inequality in infant mortality in Iran

Abstract

The findings indicate that socioeconomic inequality in infant mortality in Iran is determined not only by health system functions but also by factors beyond the scope of health authorities and care delivery system. This implies that in addition to reducing inequalities in wealth and education, investments in water and sanitation infrastructure and programmes (especially in rural areas) are necessary to realize improvements of inequality in infant mortality across society. These findings can be instrumental for the recent 5 year Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan of Iran, which identified the reduction of inequalities in social determinants of health.

Capacity building for health inequality monitoring in Indonesia: enhancing the equity orientation of country health information systems

“…The process of routine monitoring of inequalities described here must be supplemented by further capacity building in quantitative and qualitative research that can more deeply explore why inequalities exist and how they may be addressed [19,20,21]. In addition to reports specific to the state of inequality, health inequalities may also be incorporated into health sector progress reports, performance reports, and annual health statistical reports.…”

Association of Residential Segregation and Disability: A Multilevel Study Using Iranian Census Data

“…Segregation of structural characteristics of residential environment, which are important determinants of socioeconomic status in Iran, 19 also had different relations with disability rate. Provinces segregated by household size had a lower disability rate, but those provinces segregated with respect to the existence of a separate kitchen in the house and access to the public network of natural gas for heating and cooking had a higher disability rate.…”

“…In a study of nine developing countries, it was shown that an unequal distribution of consumption was associated with higher child mortality. 19 In a health survey conducted in India, levels of socioeconomic status composed of income, education, housing condition, and house ownership were associated negatively with child mortality rates. 34 In a study in a Brazilian city, the geo-economic classification of the city was correlated negatively with infant mortality.…”

“…On the premise that wealthier families are more likely to own a given set of assets and characteristics, our work, like the work of Hosseinpoor et al 19 measuring socioeconomic inequality in the field of infant mortality in Iran, also used the following variables which existed in a separate family database: number of family members (in six ordered categories containing one, two, three, four, five, six, and more individuals, which was centered to median in the analysis); percentage of literate individuals within a family; percentage of individuals with employment in a family; percentage of family members who are students; ownership of a car in the family; access to the Internet by family; accommodation size (G50, 51-75, 76-80, 81-100, 101-150, 151-200, and more than 200 m); numbers of rooms per capita in the home; existence of a separate kitchen in the home; use of natural gas for cooking and heating; house ownership; ownership of a motorcycle; existence of a separate bathroom in the house; effluent disposal system; and the existence of at least one disabled individual in the family. The data on these factors were extracted from more than 334,000 families and more than 1,100,000 individuals.…”

Demographic Convergence and its Linkage with Health Inequalities in India

“…Though, socioeconomic status and health outcomes, health inequalities relationship are well established (Wagstaff and Doorslaer, 1991;Kakwani et al, 1997;Gwatkin, 2000;Kawachi et al, 2002;Wagstaff, 2002aWagstaff, , 2002bMormot, 2002;Van Doorslaer and Gerdtham, 2003;Wagstaff et al, 2003;Mackenbach, 2003;Van Doorslaer et al, 2004;Subramanian and Kawachi, 2004;Hosseinpoor et al, 2006;Subramanian et al, 2006Subramanian et al, , 2009Harper and Lynch, 2007;Van de Poel et al, 2008;Subramanian, 2008;Speybroeck et al, 2009;Konda et al, 2009;Po and Subramanian, 2010;Pradhan and Arokisamy, 2010;Marmot, 2005Marmot, , 2010Po and Subramanian, 2011;Arokiasamy et al, 2012;Suzuki et al, 2012), but there are not many studies which have examined the relationship between the demographic and health transition with transition health inequalities. In particular, the question 'Does socioeconomic, demographic and health progress is leading to greater uniformity in average health status or health inequalities are swimming against the tide' is not given much attention.…”