Financial Consequences of Illness: Evidence from Slums of India

Based on study of slums in India, the work dwells on the extent and depth of economic burden of ill-health, patterns of coping with illness including coping strategies and consequences of ill-health, that is, its impact on socio-economic life of slum-dwellers. Based on visits to slum-dwelling families in the city of Chandigarh, it covers a wide spectrum of issues that affect the life and health of the poor living in slums. The issues covered include nature of morbidity, choice of health providers to address illnesses and diseases, and mobilisation of resources for addressing ill-health. The book suggests preventive, curative and capacity-building measures that have been adopted by the slum-dwellers to manage the problems that they face where health is concerned.