Breakthroughs in Affordable Health Care: What ‘Health Diaries’ Tell Us About Managing Health Care and Costs Among Women in West Bengal and Jharkhand

This research brief presents results from a series of “Health Diaries” - or frequent surveyor-administered surveys - conducted with 45 women in West Bengal and Jharkhand, India. The brief focuses on key findings related to treatment seeking behavior, access to services and insurance, how out-of-pocket costs are managed and who makes the decisions in the household regarding health care and how to pay for it.

While this study relies on a small sample size and therefore does not allow for extrapolation or assumptions to be made about microfinance groups or self-help groups, or generalizations about women in Jharkand or West Bengal, attempts have been made to incorporate similar data from the latest national survey to provide benchmarks to help set this data into the overall context.