Arindam Nandi

• PhD
• Fellow at Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy

Introduction Inappropriate antibiotic use is a major driver of antimicrobial resistance. However, the scope of literature and its prevalence across world regions remain largely unknown, as do the most common indicators and study designs used. In this study, we summarised the current literature on inappropriate use of antibiotics by world regions. W...

A rich literature has documented the relationship between age at marriage and girls’ health and educational outcomes. The upheaval caused by the pandemic on household decision‐making has been hypothesized to have influenced the age of marriage, but the direction of impact is unclear. On the one hand, the pandemic may have increased the age at marri...

Background Disruptions in food, health, and economic systems during the COVID-19 pandemic may have adversely affected child health. There is currently limited research on the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on stunting, wasting, and underweight status of young children. Methods We examine the short-term associations between the pandemic...

Background Patients with COVID-19 that had diagnosed chronic diseases — including diabetes — may experience higher rates of hospitalisation and mortality relative to the general population. However, the burden of undiagnosed co-morbidities during the pandemic has not been adequately studied. Methods We developed a model to estimate the hospitalisa...

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education delivery around the world, with school closures affecting over 1.6 billion students worldwide. In India, schools were closed for over 18 months, affecting 248 million students. This study estimates the effect of the pandemic on adolescent literacy and schooling outcomes in India. We used data from the Natio...

Adolescent motherhood has been linked with poor health outcomes at birth for children, including high neonatal mortality, low birthweight, and small‐for‐gestational‐age rates. However, longer‐term growth outcomes in the children of adolescent mothers in low‐resource settings remain inadequately studied. We used longitudinal data from the India Huma...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health systems globally. We estimated the effect of the pandemic on the coverage and timeliness of routine childhood immunization in India through April 2021. Methods We used data from India’s National Family Health Survey 2019-2021 (NFHS-5), a cross-sectional survey which collected immunization infor...

Health at birth is an important indicator of human capital development over the life course. This paper uses longitudinal data from the Young Lives survey and employs instrumental variable regression models to estimate the effect of birth weight on cognitive development during childhood in India. We find that a 10 per cent increase in birth weight...

Universal coverage of routine childhood vaccines remains a challenge in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In India, vaccination campaigns have increased full immunization coverage among 12–23 month old children from an estimated 62% in 2015–2016 to 76% in 2019–2020. Long-term improvements in coverage will likely require systemic change...

In the early stages of a pandemic, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) that encourage physical distancing and reduce contact can decrease and delay disease transmission. Although NPIs have been implemented globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, their intensity and timing have varied widely. This paper analyzed the country-level determinants and...

Gender gaps in skills exist around the world but differ remarkably among countries. This paper uses a unique data set with more than 20,000 adolescents in rural India to explore gender gaps in cognitive and noncognitive skills. We find that boys have considerable advantages over girls on several indicators of cognitive and noncognitive skills that...

India's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is among the largest routine childhood vaccination programs in the world. However, only an estimated 65% of Indian children under age two were fully vaccinated in 2019. We estimated the cost of raising childhood vaccination coverage to a minimum of 90% in each district in India. We obtained vaccine pri...

Vaccines can reduce antibiotic use and, consequently, antimicrobial resistance by averting vaccine‐preventable and secondary infections. We estimated the associations between private vaccine and antibiotic consumption across Indian states during 2009–2017 using monthly and annual consumption data from IQVIA and employed fixed‐effects regression and...

Gender gaps in skills exist around the world but differ remarkably among the high and low-and-middle income countries. This paper uses a unique data set with more than 20,000 adolescents in rural India to examine whether socioeconomic status and gender attitudes predict gender gaps in cognitive and noncognitive skills. We find steep socioeconomic a...

Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 globally has prompted policymakers to evaluate the capacity of health care infrastructure in their communities. Many hard-hit localities have witnessed a large influx of severe cases that strained existing hospitals. As COVID-19 spreads in India, it is essential to evaluate the country's capacity to treat sev...

Background Influenza, which peaks seasonally, is an important driver for antibiotic prescribing. Although influenza vaccination has been shown to reduce severe illness, evidence of the population-level effects of vaccination coverage on rates of antibiotic prescribing in the United States is lacking. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis o...

Objective: The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has rapidly emerged to become a global pandemic and is known to cause a high risk to patients over the age of 70 and those with co-morbidities, such as hypertension and diabetes. Though children are at comparatively lower risk compared to adults, the Indian population has a large young demographic that is...

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) that encourage physical distancing can decrease and delay the transmission of COVID-19. They have been implemented globally during the pandemic, however, the specific NPIs implemented and the timing of interventions has varied widely. We validated two published datasets on the implementation of NPIs globally....

Background Despite measures such as travel restrictions and lockdowns, the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) is projected to spread across India. Considering that a vaccine for COVID-19 is will not be available soon, it is important to identify populations with high risk from COVID-19 and take measures to prevent outbreaks and build healthcare infrast...

Routine childhood vaccines are among the most cost-effective life-saving interventions. In addition, vaccines have been linked with reduced stunting and improved health and other outcomes in later life. However, evidence on such long-term benefits remain inadequate. In this study, we examined the associations between the initiation and implementati...

The direct benefits of childhood vaccination in reducing the burden of disease morbidity and mortality in a cost-effective manner are well-established. By preventing episodes of vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccination can also help avert associated out-of-pocket medical expenses, healthcare provider costs, and losses in wages of patients and care...

Background Antibiotic resistance is a cause of morbidity and mortality driven by inappropriate prescribing. In the United States, a third of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions may be inappropriate. Seasonal influenza rates are significantly associated with antibiotic prescribing rates. The impact of influenza vaccination coverage on antibiotic...

We examine the impact of the Supreme Court judgment on sex-selective abortion. In the 1980s, the Indian child sex ratio, a ratio comparing the number of male Indian children to female Indian children, began to shift significantly towards a male skew. As ultrasounds became widely available in India, many women used them to determine the future sex o...

India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) provides daily supplementary nutrition and other public‐health services to women and children. We estimated associations between exposure to early childhood ICDS nutrition and adult reproductive outcomes. During 1987‐1990, a balanced protein‐calorie supplement called ‘upma' – made from locally av...

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) affects 337,000 Indian children every year. A vaccine against Hib was introduced in 2011 as part of the pentavalent vaccine and scaled up nationwide. This study investigated the associations between Hib vaccination and child anthropometry, cognition, and schooling outcomes in India. We used longitudinal survey da...

Objective To estimate the associations between measles vaccination and child anthropometry, cognition, and schooling outcomes in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam. Methods Longitudinal survey data from Young Lives were used to compare outcomes at ages 7–8 and 11–12 years between children who reported receipt or non-receipt of measles vaccine at 6–18 mo...

A comprehensive understanding of the costs of routine vaccine delivery is essential for planning, budgeting and sustaining India’s Universal Immunisation Programme. India currently allocates approximately US$25 per child for vaccines and operational costs. This budget is prepared based on historical expenditure data as information on cost is not av...

Background: India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is among the world's largest public nutritional programs, providing daily nutritional supplements and other public health and educational services to pregnant and nursing women, children aged <6 y, and adolescent girls. Objective: We estimated the long-term association between earl...

Natural disasters can lead to significant changes in health, economic, and demographic outcomes. However, the demographic effects of earthquakes have been studied only to a limited degree. This paper examines the effect of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake on reproductive outcomes. This earthquake killed more than 20,000 people; injured 167,000; and caus...

The realisation of human potential for development requires age-specific investment throughout the 8000 days of childhood and adolescence. Focus on the first 1000 days is an essential but insufficient investment. Intervention is also required in three later phases: the middle childhood growth and consolidation phase (5-9 years), when infection and...

Objective: There is a significant evidence gap on the long-term educational benefits of longer breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries. We estimated the association between duration of (any) breastfeeding and educational outcomes of Indian children. Methods: We used regression analysis to examine the association between the length of b...

Background High levels of maternal mortality and large associated inequalities exist in low-income and middle-income countries. Adolescent pregnancies remain common, and pregnant adolescent women face elevated risks of maternal mortality and poverty. We examined the distribution across socioeconomic groups of maternal deaths and impoverishment amon...

Each year, more than 300,000 children in India under the age of five years die from diarrheal diseases. Clean piped water and improved sanitation are known to be effective in reducing the mortality and morbidity burden of diarrhea but are not yet available to close to half of the Indian population. In this paper, we estimate the health benefits (re...

Objective: In March 2014, India, the country with historically the highest burden of polio, was declared polio free, with no reported cases since January 2011. We estimate the health and economic benefits of polio elimination in India with the oral polio vaccine (OPV) during 1982-2012. Methods: Based on a pre-vaccine incidence rate, we estimate...

India launched the Safe Motherhood Scheme (Janani Suraksha Yojana or JSY) in 2005 in response to persistently high maternal and child mortality rates. JSY provides a cash incentive to socioeconomically disadvantaged women for childbirth at health facilities. This study explores some unintended consequences of JSY. Using data from two large househol...

India's Integrated Child Development Scheme, which provides supplementary nutrition and other public health services to >91 million women and children aged <6 y, is the largest program of its kind in the world. We estimated the long-term associations of maternal and early childhood nutrition provided under the Integrated Child Development Scheme...

Appendix S1. Modeling details. Table S1. Disease input parameters. Figure S1. Significance of state‐wise DALYs per 100,000 in the baseline scenario. Figure S2. Significance of state‐wise DALYs averted per 100,000 in UPF scenario 1 (from the baseline scenario). Figure S3. Significance of state‐wise DALYs averted per 100,000 in UPF scenario 2 (fr...

Objective: An estimated 6-10 million people in India live with active epilepsy, and less than half are treated. We analyze the health and economic benefits of three scenarios of publicly financed national epilepsy programs that provide: (1) first-line antiepilepsy drugs (AEDs), (2) first- and second-line AEDs, and (3) first- and second-line AEDs a...

Approximately 900 000 newborn children die every year in India, accounting for 28% of neonatal deaths globally. In 2011, India introduced a home-based newborn care (HBNC) package to be delivered by community health workers across rural areas. We estimate the disease and economic burden that could be averted by scaling up the HBNC in rural India usi...

In this review the existing evidence on the impact of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is discussed in the context of international literature available on health insurance. We describe potential pathways through which health insurance can affect health and economic outcomes, discuss evidence from other developing countries, and identify poten...

Legal prohibitions on sex-selective abortions are proliferating in the United States. Eight state legislatures have banned abortions sought on the basis of the sex of the fetus, 21 states have considered such laws since 2009, and a similar bill is pending in U.S. Congress. These laws have been introduced and enacted without any empirical data about...

We use the classical model of structured expert judgment to examine the return on investment (ROI) in a health surveillance network. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) in 2002 to collect available data to better understand the link between health and the env...

Abstract Background Cardiovascular diseases are the single largest cause of death in India, with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) accounting for one-third of all heart disease deaths. Although effective treatment is available for AMI, access to treatment is dictated by cost and ability to pay. With scarce treatment resources, healthcare decisions...

Background and objectives India has the highest under-five death toll globally, approximately 20% of which is attributed to vaccine-preventable diseases. India's Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is working both to increase immunization coverage and to introduce new vaccines. Here, we analyze the disease and financial burden alleviated across...

India has long struggled with persistent problems of sex-selective abortions and the neglect of female children. In 1996, the Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act was implemented to stop the practices of prenatal sex determination and selective abortions. This paper examines whether the law has been effective in reducing gender imbalance, and in tu...

Bidis, the most common smoking tobacco product in India, remain largely untaxed and are subject to very few regulations to discourage their use. A major argument against tax increases is the large potential loss of economic activity and employment in the bidi industry from reduced consumption. We used a nationally representative survey of unorganis...

[This corrects the article on p. e66296 in vol. 8.].

Legal prohibitions on sex-selective abortions are proliferating in the United States. Eight state legislatures have banned abortions sought on the basis of the sex of the fetus, 21 states have considered such laws since 2009, and a similar bill is pending in U.S. Congress. These laws have been introduced and enacted without any empirical data about...

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which was introduced in 2008 in India, is a social health insurance scheme that aims to improve healthcare access and provide financial risk protection to the poor. In this study, we analyse the determinants of participation and enrolment in the scheme at the level of districts. We used official data on RS...

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is widely used as a tool for prioritising health interventions, particularly in low-income and middle-income settings. However, among the major limitations of CEA are the omission of health-care seeking behaviour, heterogeneous mechanisms across populations or regions that determine the delivery and quality of heal...

In India, decline in fertility rates over time, and the rise in small family norms, have often been linked with a strengthened preference for sons, and falling sex ratios. However, studies analyzing the negative effect of fertility on gender imbalance have failed to account for a very important simultaneity bias. The underlying son preference may c...

Despite strong recent economic growth, gender inequality remains a major concern for India. This paper examines the effectiveness of a public policy geared towards the reduction of gender inequality. The national Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (PNDT) Act of 1994, implemented in 1996, banned sex-selective abortions in India. Alt...

In response to high maternal and child mortality, in 2005 India launched the Safe Motherhood Scheme (Janani Suraksha Yojana or JSY) which provides a cash incentive to socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers for delivering the baby at a health facility. We study some unintended consequences of JSY. We employ a regression discontinuity approach, usin...

Introduced in 2008, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is a social health insurance scheme that aims to improve healthcare access, and provide financial risk protection to India’s poor. This paper analyzes the determinants of participation and enrollment in the scheme at the level of districts. We use official data on RSBY enrollment, backgr...

The threat posed by smoking to health in India is severe. Already 1 in 5 of all adult male deaths and 1 in 20 of all adult female deaths at ages 30-69 are due to smoking and India will soon have 1 million smoking deaths a year. Increasing tobacco prices has been found to be the single most effective method to reduce smoking. Yet, bidis, the most co...

Tobacco smoking of bidis and cigarettes causes about one million deaths a year in India. India's relatively high consumption is due in part to a historically low or no tax on bidis and an inefficient, complex system of taxing cigarettes. In the context of planned tax reforms in India, we provide specific recommendations to raise tobacco taxes and t...