In this week's PLoS Medicine, K. Srinath Reddy from the Public Health Foundation of India discusses new research published last week by Malavika Subramanyam, S V Subramanian, and colleagues that found no link between economic growth and child undernutrition rates in India, concluding that direct investments in appropriate health interventions may be necessary to improve child health in India.
Dr. Reddy (not involved in the research study) emphasizes that poor health is not only the result of poverty but also of inequality, which manifests in many ways. He says that "developing countries like India should not assume that economic growth will automatically translate into improved child nutrition and health. Measures for enhancing equity through inclusive growth, action on social determinants of health, and specific programs for improved early life nutrition will be needed if undernourished children are not to become the face of an economically advancing India."
Funding: No specific funding was received to write this Perspective.
Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Reddy KS (2011) Equity Must Accompany Economic Growth for Good Health. PLoS Med 8(3):e1000426. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000426
IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000426
CONTACT:
Related paper by S.V Subramanian and colleagues
Funding: No direct financial support or funding was obtained to conduct this study. SVS is supported by a National Institutes of Health Career Development Award (NHLBI K25 HL081275), and the Robert Wood John Health Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. MAS was supported by The Richmond Fellowship from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child at the time when majority of the analysis was conducted. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Subramanyam MA, Kawachi I, Berkman LF, Subramanian SV (2011) Is Economic Growth Associated with Reduction in Child Undernutrition in India? PLoS Med 8(3): e1000424. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000424
IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000424
CONTACT:
S. V. Subramanian
Harvard School of Public Health
Department of Society, Human Development and Health
677 Huntington Avenue
KRESGE 7th floor
Boston, MA 02115
United States of America
617-432-6299
617-432-3123 (fax)
svsubram@hsph.harvard.edu
Journal
PLoS Medicine