Pritam Ghosh - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Pritam Ghosh

American Journal of Human Biology, 2024

Backgrounds & Objectives: The privileging of boys in immunization coverage, breastfeeding, and ot... more Backgrounds & Objectives: The privileging of boys in immunization coverage, breastfeeding, and other child care practices in Indian patriarchal society raises questions about whether there are sex differences in the prevalence of undernutrition among children. This study evaluates the sex gap in the prevalence of Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) among Indian children from 2015-16 to 2019-21. Additionally, it seeks to identify the sexspecific determinants and persistent sex gap at national and subnational levels (social, economic, religious, and geopolitical regions) in anthropometric failure among the children from 2015-16 to 2019-21. Materials and Methods: The study utilizes the 4th (2015-16) and 5th (2019-21) rounds of the National Family Health Survey data. Logistic regression models and the Fairlie decomposition technique were employed to explore the persistent and significant sex gap in the prevalence of CIAF, as well as the sexspecific determinants of CIAF among children in 2015-16 and 2019-21. Results: The study reveals a significant sex gap (approximately 4%-points), with boy's disadvantage in the prevalence of CIAF from 2015-16 to 2019-21 at both the national and subnational levels (social, religious, socioeconomic groups, and geopolitical regions). The gap is more pronounced in the first year of life and decreases in later stages. A comparatively faster CIAF decline

Global Social Welfare

Background and Objectives The prevalence of anaemia during childhood is a serious health problem ... more Background and Objectives The prevalence of anaemia during childhood is a serious health problem and a major burden of disease in India. According to NFHS-4, in India, about 58.4% of children suffered from anaemia which hugely contributes to childhood illness, morbidity, and mortality. Therefore, estimating the level of anaemia during childhood, and the significant determinants of childhood anaemia at the sub-national level, is essential for the improvement of child health status in India. The main aim of the study is to determine blood haemoglobin levels, the prevalence of anaemia among children from different socio-demographic groups and geographic regions, and the significant drivers in West Bengal. Methods We used NFHS-4 data for this analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Z-test were used to examine the variation in blood haemoglobin level among children from different backgrounds. Chi-square and multinomial logistic regression were used to outline significant heterogeneity in the prevalence of anaemia across different categories of background variables and to identify significant determinants of the prevalence of anaemia during childhood in West Bengal, respectively. Results The study significantly identified a higher prevalence of any kind of anaemia among the children in the early age group, living with 20-29-year-old, thin, anaemic mothers, belonging to urban areas, lower economic groups, and live in the northern part of West Bengal. Besides, a higher chance of moderate or severe anaemia was noticed among smaller-sized births and the Scheduled Tribe community. Conclusions Policymakers must consider the major driving factors of childhood anaemia to frame adequate strategies for eliminating anaemia. The study suggests more initiatives and investments for supplying adequate nutrition and quality health and medical care to the early-aged children, undernourished mothers (thin, anaemic), ST community, and poor families in the study area. This initiative may help improve child health (Sustainable Development Goal 03) and reduce inequality (SDG 10) in health status across various socio-demographic, economic groups, and regions within the state.

Social Science & Medicine, 2022

Breastfeeding is an essential key factor for reducing child mortality and the risk of disease. Th... more Breastfeeding is an essential key factor for reducing child mortality and the risk of disease. Therefore, to ensure health and wellbeing for all (Sustainable Development Goal 03), and to reduce inequalities in child health status (SDG 10), understanding the determinants of breastfeeding is essential. Our research aims to investigate determinants of different breastfeeding practices from 2005-06 (NFHS-3) to 2015-16 (NFHS-4), and changes in different breastfeeding practices among various demographic, social, religious, and economic groups during this decade. We have used a multivariate binary logistic regression model to estimate significant determinants of different breastfeeding practices. The results show an 8.4% hike in Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF), along with a 3.3% and 1% drop in the Continuation of Breastfeeding (CBF) up to one and two years respectively during this decade in India. Significant variation has been found in EBF, CBF1 and CBF2 among various categories of child's birth interval, place of residence, social groups, economic communities, and geographic regions. Maternal nutritional status and anemia levels had significant influence on CBF1 and CBF2, and gender of the children on EBF and CBF2 from 2005-06 to 2015-16. There was no significant variation in CBF1 and CBF2 among children born in different birth orders, whereas EBF was significantly less among higher birth orders children. A dramatic improvement in EBF was found among first birth ordered children, teenage and/or highly educated mother, rich families, and in north India, and CBF2 was significantly raised only among higher educated mothers. The estimation of determinants throughout the decade is essential for improving government policies related to supporting and encouraging breastfeeding. The study suggests more initiatives and investment for the promotion, support and improvement of CBF for one and two years, and reduction of inequality among various demographic and socio-economic groups and geographic regions.

PLOS Global Public Health

Economic & Political Weekly, 2023

Universal access to safe sanitation by reducing subnational inequality is a huge challenge for a ... more Universal access to safe sanitation by reducing subnational inequality is a huge challenge for a country like India. The union government launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, intending to end the practice of open defecation by 2019. The article examines the current state and temporal changes in OD across subnational levels using data from the National Family Health Surveys 4 (2015-16) and 5 (2019-21). While the practice has decreased signifi cantly, from 38.88% of households in 2015-16 to 19.36% in 2019-21, it remains relatively higher in central and eastern Indian states. The fi ndings suggest further modifi cation of the SBM project's implementation strategies in these states.

Social Science & Medicine, 2023

Anaemia among under-five children is a global health problem and a major cause of child morbidity... more Anaemia among under-five children is a global health problem and a major cause of child morbidity and mortality, especially in Lower-Middle-Income countries including India. Despite a significant decrease over the last decade, nearly 58% of children in India suffered from anaemia in 2015-16. This national average hides the inequality in the prevalence of anaemia among indigenous people and other social groups. Therefore, the study focuses on identifying time-dependent significant determinants of the prevalence of anaemia from 2005-06 to 2015-16 among children belonging to Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC), Other Backward Class (OBC) and Other or General social groups. Besides, it also identified social group-wise transition of anaemia among under-five children belonging to different socio-demographic, economic, residential and regional backgrounds in India. Time-dependent and independent logistic regression models were used to identify significant determinants of child anaemia and the mean probability of anaemia across different categories of explanatory backgrounds. Though the probability of anaemia has decreased more among marginalized children during the last decade, it remains relatively higher among them. The study has outlined the significant effects of child age, birth order, maternal anaemia, education level and geographic regions on the prevalence of anaemia among ST, SC, OBC and General social groups in India over the past decade. The effect of economic status on the prevalence of anaemia among ST and SC children was insignificant. Four subpopulations demonstrated a relatively greater magnitude of decadal anaemia risk reduction among children of early age groups, living with teenage, non-anaemic, less educated mothers and living in northeast India. The study suggests the arrangement of region-specific, socialgroup based strategies for reducing the prevalence of anaemia among under-five children in India. In this way, the nation can achieve "health and well-being for all" (SDG 03) by eliminating the geographical, and social inequality in the prevalence of child anaemia within the country (SDG 10).

Global Social Welfare, 2023

Health Geography, Child, and Maternal Health, Social, Economic and Geographical Inequality in Hea... more Health Geography, Child, and Maternal Health, Social, Economic and Geographical Inequality in Health & Healthcare, WASH, Spatial Analysis, Policy Research

Global Social Welfare, 2023

Background and Objective In 2011, nearly half of the households in India had not accessed drinkin... more Background and Objective In 2011, nearly half of the households in India had not accessed drinking water sources in their household premises. In this context, the question arises: who is playing an important role (a male or female household member) in fetching drinking water in those households where the availability of drinking water is inadequate? Is there any gender difference in this practice? Against this backdrop, the study aims to outline the proportion of households from various sociodemographic, economic, and regional backgrounds where women are playing the main role of collecting water. The study also focuses on identifying the backgrounds determining the role of women as household water collectors in India. Methodology We used the 69th round of NSS (National Sample Survey 2012) data for this study. We employed the chisquare test to access the heterogeneity in the proportion of households where women are responsible for water collection among different sociodemographic, community-level, and regional backgrounds. Besides, we used a binary logistic regression model to outline the impact of different backgrounds on women's responsibility for collecting drinking water in India. Results The results showed women fetch drinking water in more than 80% of the households that did not have drinking water sources within their premises. We outlined the significant role of social groups, the education level of male household members, the principal occupation of the households, the distance to the drinking water sources, the household head's gender, land ownership, and place of residence as the determinants of this responsibility of women in India. Conclusion We propose constructing the necessary infrastructure to ensure that everyone has access to safe drinking water. This will not only reduce the issues of the water crisis (SDG 06) and the enormous burden in Indian women (SDG 5).

PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, 2023

A healthy and diversified diet is essential for preventing several non-communicable diseases (NCD... more A healthy and diversified diet is essential for preventing several non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Given the increasing evidence of diet-related health burdens and the rising prevalence of NCDs among Indian adults, the present study aims to explore dietary diversity patterns among adult men in India and their association with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). For this purpose, the study used the fourth round of the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4) to analyze adult male samples (n = 1,12,122). Dietary Diversity Scores (DDS) were computed by the weighted sum of the number of different food groups consumed by an individual. The prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer among adult men is considered a non-communicable disease. Bivariate and logistic regression was carried out to examine the association between DDS and NCDs by estimating chi-squared tests (χ 2-test), odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI). The prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer among adult men in India is 2.1 percent, 1.2 percent, and 0.3 percent, respectively. Results show a positive association between dietary diversity score and the prevalence of the non-communicable disease. High-level dietary diversity scores increase to two times the likelihood of diabetes (OR 2.15 with p<0.05) among adult men than to better-off counterparts while controlling all the covariates. However, a moderate dietary diversity score significantly decreases the likelihood of heart disease (OR 0.88 with p<0.10) and Cancer (OR 0.71 with p<0.05) for adult men compared to a lower score of dietary diversity. In addition, age, marital status, drinking and smoking habits, occupation, and wealth index are also significantly associated with the odds of non-communicable diseases among adult men.

The Professional Geographers, 2023

This article examines the fifth iteration of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) to determ... more This article examines the fifth iteration of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) to determine the state of urban India. We have some surprising revelations. First, regardless of class and caste affiliations, the gap between the higher and lower hierarchies in the NFHS-5 has shrunk since the previous edition, with the exception of provision of on-premises drinking water. Second, in combination with the growing body of literature on caste and ethnicity-based residential segregation in Indian cities, the most recent batch of data asserts unequivocally that such a segregation mechanism has not manifested itself in unequal access to public amenities; this is another positive sign. Third, profound inequality exists along class lines. Because class is only distantly tied to caste or ethnic ascriptions, we can observe a vast swath of wealthless residuals along the caste-ethnic hierarchy. We publish these studies in light of India's globally attuned aspiration to attain Sustainable Development Goals 6, 7, 10, and 11.

The Professional Geographer, 2022

Abstract: This article examines the fifth iteration of the National Family Health Survey to deter... more Abstract: This article examines the fifth iteration of the National Family Health Survey to determine the state of urban India. We have some surprising revelations. First, regardless of class-caste affiliations, the gap between the higher and lower hierarchies in NFHS 5 has shrunk since the previous round, with the exception of provision of on premises drinking water. Secondly, in combination with the growing body of literature on caste/ethnicity-based residential segregation in Indian cities, the most recent batch of data asserts unequivocally that such a segregation mechanism has not manifested itself in unequal access to public amenities; this is another positive sign. Thirdly, profound inequality exists along class lines. And because class is only distantly tied to caste/ethnic ascriptions, we can observe a vast swath of wealth less residuals along the caste/ethnic hierarchy. We publish these studies in light of India’s globally-attuned aspiration to attain SDG 6, SDG 7, SDG 10, and SDG 11 goals.

Agriculture is the back bone of Indian economy. It contributes about 14.6% in Gross Domestic Prod... more Agriculture is the back bone of Indian economy. It contributes about 14.6% in Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and about 2/3 rd population directly or indirectly depend on it. Main objective of this study is to examine the block wise agricultural development and agricultural productivity index in Hooghly district, and classify these blocks into different agricultural development and productivity zones.The Study area located in between 23 0 01'20''N to 22 0 39'32''N latitude and 88 0 30'15''E to87 0 39'32'' E longitude and comprises with 18 community development blocks.The analysis has been made in this paper mostly based on secondary data base,collected from Department of Agriculture of Hooghly, Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics of West Bengal, District Statistical Hand Book of Hooghly and Census of India etc. Collected secondary data has been converted into tertiary data set and then various calculations, mapping have been don...

Social Science and Medicine, 2021

Journal of Indian Anthropological Society, 2021

The study aimed to portray menstrual hygiene management among young women of India from various d... more The study aimed to portray menstrual hygiene management among young women of India from various demographic, socio-cultural, economic backgrounds. The study also identified the effect of different background characteristics on the menstrual hygiene management (MHM). We used NFHS-4 (2015-16) data and applied inferential statistics such as chi-square, multinomial logistic regression for the analysis. The results of the study showed partial-hygienic and unhygienic menstrual management were significantly higher in Central or Northeastern India, among the women of Muslims and socially marginalized groups, who belonged to a higher age group, had lower level of education, low media exposure, were economically poor and lived in rural areas as members of an extended family. Unhygienic menstrual management was less common among the teenage girls and unmarried women. Clearly, level of education, media exposure, and economic background largely determine the level of menstrual hygiene management level rather than any specific social, demographic, and religious determinant. The Government of India should take more initiative through implementing different projects or schemes, especially meant for young girls and women belonging to socially, culturally, and economically marginalized communities, so that they can be made aware of MHM and get access to and afford disposable hygienic sanitary products.

Regional Science Policy & Practice, 2021

A major obstruction of Indian society to establish equality, balanced growth and development is r... more A major obstruction of Indian society to establish equality, balanced growth and development is regional and social group-wise inequality in availing even basic human needs as well as housing conditions. The present study focuses on mapping the nationwide spatial disparity in the distribution
and inequality of temporary housing among socially marginalized
and privileged groups, along with three administrative
hierarchies: National–State–District. Varieties of measures
(Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient, correlation, and quadrant
analysis) have been employed for this study. The results
indicate inequality in the spatial distribution of serviceable
and non-serviceable temporary housing in India, along with
a geospatial disparity in the ownership of temporary housing
among different social groups. A number of districts in
Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Jammu Kashmir, and Tamil Nadu have shown a
higher proportion of temporary housing along with more
ownership among socially marginalized groups. Besides this,
districts from Bihar, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Tripura have higher proportion of
non-serviceable temporary housing than the national average,
along with more ownership among marginalized groups.
The categorization of the states and districts based on social
group-wise inequality in the ownership and the concentration
of temporary housing is significant for improving of the
policies and initiatives taken by the Government to arrange
safe, affordable, adequate, and sustainable housing for all.
KEYWORDS
Housing Inequality, India, Marginalized-Privileged Social Groups,
Temporary Housing

Regional Science Policy and Practice, 2020

Within two weeks from the first detection of the SARS-CoV-2 positive patient on 21 February, from... more Within two weeks from the first detection of the SARS-CoV-2 positive patient on 21 February, from Lombardy, the disease has spread over every region in Italy. The main objective of this study is to identify spatial effects and spatiotemporal patterns of the outbreak of COVID-19 in different regions of Italy. Spatial indicators for different periods, as Moran's I, local Moran, LISA clusters, Getis and Ord G, and scatterplots are used for this purpose. Results confirm the great presence of spatial effects as well as changes in spatial regimes between the quarantine and the easing phase. The evidence could be of help for policy-makers to a proper assessment of health strategies aware of local characteristics.

Eastern Geographer, 2018

Children are the future and most important asset of a society as well as a nation, and good healt... more Children are the future and most important asset of a society as well as a nation, and good health status of children is the wealth of that nation. Therefore, to ensure the progress of a healthy nation child health must keep protected. In this context main focus of the study is to identify spatial inequalities and variations and spatial pattern of different health risks among children of different districts of West Bengal. Fourth round District Level Household Survey (DLHS-4) data has been used here to make this analysis. These filtered secondary data has been transformed into tertiary data set and then various statistical calculations, cartographic techniques have been made by using Microsoft Excel 2013, IBM SPSS 23 software and different mapping have been created by using Q-GIS 2.12. In this study, health vulnerability has been determined based on three main index parameters like malnutrition, morbidity and immunization gap. The districts, which are consider as most vulnerable or moderately vulnerable in child health, are not equally poor from each aspects of these three parameters. Government must take adequate measures to mitigate these risks or health problems and to resist the prevalence of these risks. Beside this general people or parents of the study area must aware regarding the causes and effects of malnutrition, morbidity and immunization.

American Journal of Human Biology, 2024

Global Social Welfare

Social Science & Medicine, 2022

PLOS Global Public Health

Economic & Political Weekly, 2023

Social Science & Medicine, 2023

Global Social Welfare, 2023

PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, 2023

The Professional Geographers, 2023

The Professional Geographer, 2022

Social Science and Medicine, 2021

Journal of Indian Anthropological Society, 2021

Regional Science Policy & Practice, 2021

Regional Science Policy and Practice, 2020

Eastern Geographer, 2018