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India has experienced rapid urbanization in the past decades. Urban population of the country has increased from 62 million in 1951 to 286 million in 2001. Rapid urbanization is associated with better socioeconomic and health conditions in urban than rural areas due to increased opportunity of education & employment and improved health infrastructures within the cities. On the contrary, the rapid growing urbanizations is characterized as typically overcrowded, polluted, lack basic services such as clean water and sanitation and exposed to infectious diseases. Along with unhygienic and health threatening surroundings, irregular use of recommended health practices, high cost of health facility and accessibility make the health of urban poor vulnerable. But, existing health programme such as National Rural Health Mission is directed to improvement of health and health care in rural India and overlook the urban poor who may enjoy little or no health advantage over their rural counterparts. Considering the need this study pointed out the health and health care vulnerability among urban poor of India over past 13 years.

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Abhishek Kumar is a Doctoral Fellow at International Institute for Population Studies, Mumbai, India. He has attended various national and international conferences. He has been the visiting research fellow of Ohio State University, Ohio and Population Council, New York.

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