Status of Morbidity and Mortality in the State of Odisha, India

Page: 116-124
Ranajit Bera, Rashmi Ranjan Behera, Ramya Ranjan Behera, Deepak Panda, Munmun Mohapatra, Sribas Patra, 7 8 9 10, Nishikanta Kumar, R. Karthik, Diganta Panda, and Diptimayee Naik 1,3,4,5,9, (Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal1,3,4,5,9, Advanced Technology Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal2,8, Department of Applied Geography, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha6, Newcastle University, Australia, Oceania7, and Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Jajpur, Odisha10)

Mortality and morbidity are two crucial components to assess the standard of the health system of a nation. This paper examines the spatial variation in the status of morbidity and mortality in Odisha using three rounds of Annual Health Survey Data conducted from 2010-13. Chronic and acute diseases were used to analyse the status of morbidity whereas crude death rate, infant mortality rate, neonatal, post-neonatal and under-five mortality rates were used to analyse mortality status in the state of Odisha. The composite index depicted the spatial variation in morbidity and mortality across the different districts. Five dimensions were identified through Principal Component analysis which indicated the association between the selected indicators of mortality and morbidity. It was found that the developed districts reported high morbidity and underdeveloped districts reported low morbidity. On the other hand, the underdeveloped districts reported high mortality and developed districts reported low mortality. The results of the study illustrate the importance of the provision of health infrastructures, improvement in education, medical awareness, governmental policies and schemes to improve the overall health status in Odisha.