Public Subsidies on Health and Nutrition in Punjab: Do the Poor Benefit?

Abstract

Pro-poor spending is one of the important objective of the government in Punjab growth strategy and Sustainable Development Goals but there is lack of information regarding the distribution health services among different population groups. Such information is important for policy makers and programme managers to develop and implement pro-poor strategies. So, by using “Benefit Incidence Analysis” technique, this study has tested the hypothesis if public spending on priority health and nutrition services are targeting the most vulnerable poor group or not? The results obtained by using MICS, DHIS, ADP data and the DISP 2.3 software show that all the government interventions are not progressive in absolute term indicating they are not well targeting the poor except immunization and school education which are found relatively progressive. To create awareness in hard areas about use of service, ensures accessibility, increase budget in budget etc are some of policy suggestions.

Keywords: Benefit Incidence Analysis, Health, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Nutrition, public Spending’s