An Empirical Investigation of the Rural-Urban Divide of Health Parameters in Tamil Nadu

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on "Good Health and Well-being" holds the nucleus place of the study, which aims to ensure healthy life and promotion of well-being for all lives. Equal status in health care is considered as the main long-term principle of health policy in India which satisfies the need of poor and underprivileged people. The equity of health parameters is best achieved with the assessment and direction of all the states of India working towards the same. In this aspect, the present study analyses the state-level disparities in health parameters on various dimensions. The rural-urban disparity in health is a common challenge for all the states of India and hence, the study assessed the extent of rural-urban disparity in the vital healthcare parameters in the state of Tamil Nadu, as observed by the data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 1, 2, 3 and 4). The disparity index calculated with the NFHS statistics on the achievements with regard to total fertility rate, crude birth rate, infant mortality rate, and child mortality rate, the rural population is at a greater disadvantage than the urban population in the case of Tamil Nadu. This calls for proper and adequate consideration by health officials to ensure equity in health care to achieve the SDG and the millennium development goals that will enable Tamil Nadu to achieve sustainable development over the long run.