Search: For - health

1243 results found

An assessment of India’s readiness for tracking SDG targets on Health and Nutrition
Feb 14, 2017

An assessment of India’s readiness for tracking SDG targets on Health and Nutrition

India’s endeavour to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a well-defined and time-bound manner is critical for national and global development. This paper examines India’s data availability to assess the SDGs related to health and nutrition. While India is still facing severe challenges of generating disaggregated information on mortality and cause-specific deaths, the desired data on nutrition and healthcare utilisation are la

An Examination of India’s Federal System and its Impact on Healthcare
May 23, 2023

An Examination of India’s Federal System and its Impact on Healthcare

This paper explores the impact of India’s federal architecture, particularly its tax-sharing structure and system of fiscal transfers, on the state of the country’s healthcare. It examines the existing system of intergovernmental transfers and pays particular attention to the Fourteenth Finance Commission’s new devolution framework that has enhanced the previously constrained fiscal spaces of states. This, in turn, will likely have implicat

Anna, Home-Grown-Terror, Sonia's Health And Other Stories
Aug 21, 2011

Anna, Home-Grown-Terror, Sonia's Health And Other Stories

The Congress, with luck, must have its leader, Sonia Gandhi, back soon or, in the alternative, find some way to keep together the flock which has grown accustomed to the apotheosis of a family. A simple way is to hold party elections, never attempted after the Tirupati session of the Congress in 1993.

Artificial Intelligence in Africa’s healthcare: Ethical considerations
Sep 09, 2019

Artificial Intelligence in Africa’s healthcare: Ethical considerations

Artificial intelligence (AI) can improve various aspects of healthcare. It can help reduce annual expenditure,[1] allow early detection of diseases, provide round-the-clock monitoring for chronic disorders, and help limit the exposure of healthcare professionals in contagious environments. The use of AI in healthcare systems in Africa, in particular, can eliminate inefficiencies such as misdiagnosis, shortage in healthcare workers, and wait and

Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Public Health and Nutrition Security
Mar 22, 2024

Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Public Health and Nutrition Security

Climate change poses a significant risk to global food security. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and shifting precipitation patterns impact food production, disrupting food supply chains, increasing food prices, and diminishing food safety. These effects are particularly apparent in developing countries, where vulnerable populations struggle to access nutritious foods and small farmers face financial challenges. Tackling the impacts

Bolstering health security measures in response to Nipah
Aug 30, 2024

Bolstering health security measures in response to Nipah

Kerala outbreak sparks calls for improved communication and targeted action

Bridging the healthcare gap in Afghanistan: A primer on India’s role
May 24, 2023

Bridging the healthcare gap in Afghanistan: A primer on India’s role

An era of Taliban rule, followed by the 18-year-long war between the United States and the Taliban, has left Afghanistan in massive disorder: the country’s infrastructure is dilapidated, the quality of life is poor, and basic amenities such as healthcare are absent. While the post-Taliban Government of Afghanistan has tried to rebuild the healthcare system, it remains largely dependent on foreign aid. Over the years, India has tried to help reb

Building a Follow-up and Review Framework for India’s Sustainable Development Goal on Health
Jul 22, 2016

Building a Follow-up and Review Framework for India’s Sustainable Development Goal on Health

The creation of a competent national indicator framework will be central to the tracking — and eventual attainment — of India’s sustainable development goals. Through an analytical study of India’s past efforts relating to the MDGs and its initial preparations for the SDGs, this paper identifies specific hurdles that must be overcome in building a health indicator architecture that is both globally relevant and aligned with national

Building India’s global health strategy: Beyond the role of ‘Pharmacist of the world’
May 06, 2020

Building India’s global health strategy: Beyond the role of ‘Pharmacist of the world’

As the Covid-19 pandemic began to unfold in February, India’s dependence on Chinese inputs for the production of pharmaceutical products was debated intensely. This special report argues that the narrow discussion has fallen short in capturing India’s crucial role in global health as a provider of health-related goods to many developing countries. The report analyses trade data on over 200 categories of health-related goods, and provides quan

Can PMJAY fix India’s healthcare system? Crossing five hurdles on the path to universal health coverage
Oct 12, 2018

Can PMJAY fix India’s healthcare system? Crossing five hurdles on the path to universal health coverage

Arguably the most ambitious health insurance programme in the world today, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) gives India the chance to transform its healthcare infrastructure. Launched in September 2018 and foreshadowing the general elections of 2019, PMJAY is equal-parts political and economic. It aims to address the healthcare needs of India’s poorest 100 million households and has the potential to deliver what its predecessors ove

Challenges in Early Intervention for Maternal Health: Lessons from Madhya Pradesh
May 15, 2024

Challenges in Early Intervention for Maternal Health: Lessons from Madhya Pradesh

India has made progress in digital health, including in telemedicine and creating platforms such as Co-WIN for the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. These initiatives demonstrate the benefits of technology in enhancing the availability and affordability of, and access to healthcare services. This report examines the challenges that continue to stall the reduction of maternal deaths in India. It uses the case of Madhya Pradesh, the sta

Climate change and healthcare in the BIMSTEC countries: Potential for cooperation
Jul 02, 2019

Climate change and healthcare in the BIMSTEC countries: Potential for cooperation

The relative prosperity being recorded by the countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)[1] is being confronted by multidimensional challenges brought about by climate change, including in public health. This brief examines the role of regional cooperation in mitigating these negative consequences of global warming. Analysing the national health policies of BIMSTEC countries, this bri

CoWIN app for vaccine, telemedicine: 2021 is the turning point for India’s healthcare through AI
Jan 08, 2021

CoWIN app for vaccine, telemedicine: 2021 is the turning point for India’s healthcare through AI

The remedy to overcome India’s healthcare afflictions calls for the amalgamation of data, technology and collaboration.

Deteriorating public healthcare in Mumbai
Jun 22, 2012

Deteriorating public healthcare in Mumbai

Mumbai's public healthcare sector is approaching exhaustion. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), despite its untiring efforts to provide affordable healthcare through its general hospitals and peripheral centres.

Domestic Violence and Women’s Health in India: Insights from NFHS-4
Jan 21, 2022

Domestic Violence and Women’s Health in India: Insights from NFHS-4

Across the globe, more than 730 million women report ever having experienced some form of gender-based violence; those in low- and lower-middle-income countries are disproportionately affected. In the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the incidence of violence suffered by women in the hands of their intimate partners, owing to heightened stresses of loss of livelihood, disruption of social and protective networks, a

Employing AI to Improve Healthcare Delivery
May 22, 2023

Employing AI to Improve Healthcare Delivery

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already made inroads into healthcare. The increasing availability of healthcare data has allowed for the deployment of powerful AI techniques to assist drug development as well as clinical practice. These run the gamut from machine learning (ML) techniques that analyse structured data, to natural language processing (NLP) that can extract meaningful information from unstructured data, such as doctors’ notes. Thi

End to hunger? National Family Health Survey reveals malnutrition free India is far off goal
Dec 20, 2020

End to hunger? National Family Health Survey reveals malnutrition free India is far off goal

India needs to act now by enhancing its programme effectiveness and reach.

Global Health Governance in an Uncertain World: A Proposed Framework for the G20
Jan 30, 2023

Global Health Governance in an Uncertain World: A Proposed Framework for the G20

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, reforming the global health governance system has become a key area of concern for the G20 and other multilateral platforms. This comes at a time when the world has increasingly become volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. As a grouping of developed and developing countries, the G20 must prioritise addressing global health challenges by identifying its direct and indirect determinants. This brief

Global justice and distribution of health care
Jul 19, 2012

Global justice and distribution of health care

Efforts are being made on a global scale to improve public health. One of the ini tiatives to attend to the many problems and challenges in the public health sect or is the creation of the Health Impact Fund (HIF).

Growth, employment, healthcare: Which numbers to believe in Donald Trump's US
Dec 04, 2018

Growth, employment, healthcare: Which numbers to believe in Donald Trump's US

By some accounts, the economy is doing spectacularly well. At the same time, infrastructure has been deteriorating.

How fares India in healthcare? A sub-national analysis
Feb 25, 2020

How fares India in healthcare? A sub-national analysis

India’s geographical landscape is vast, cultural differences can be sharp, and income disparities are stark in certain regions. Access to healthcare, therefore, is varied and the on-ground gaps and challenges are complex. The NITI Aayog Health Index is an attempt by the current government to formulate a mechanism to monitor at the sub-national level the country’s performance in improving healthcare. This paper uses the findings of the Health

In the Shadow of COVID19: Reimagining BIMSTEC’s Health Futures
May 24, 2023

In the Shadow of COVID19: Reimagining BIMSTEC’s Health Futures

BIMSTEC member states have issued, on occasion, joint statements recognising the importance of holistic public healthcare and the need for alliances. Yet, intra-BIMSTEC collaborations so far have been limited, mostly focused on traditional medicine. Amidst COVID-19, the region’s states have an opportunity to take their health-sector partnerships to a “new normal”.  Given the highly endemic nature of communicable diseases and the porous bor

India and the U.S. Make a Strategic Case for Health Cooperation
Aug 17, 2023

India and the U.S. Make a Strategic Case for Health Cooperation

India and the United States (US) have been cooperating in the health sector since the late 1960s. The cooperation has intensified in the past decade, riding on institutional structures established following the launch of the US-India Health Initiative in 2010. It has seen further expansion since the COVID-19 pandemic, and today covers a wide range of areas including disease prevention and combating infectious diseases, maternal and child

India’s Family Planning Mission Puts Burden of Sterilisation on Women at the Cost of Their Health
Apr 07, 2022

India’s Family Planning Mission Puts Burden of Sterilisation on Women at the Cost of Their Health

World Health Day: Between 2008 and 2019, only 3 per cent of all 51.6 million sterilisations done in India were vasectomies

India’s fight against health emergencies: In search of a legal architecture
May 24, 2023

India’s fight against health emergencies: In search of a legal architecture

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 (caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2) has exposed glaring gaps in India’s domestic laws. Absent a rationally structured legislation to fall back on, the Union government in March advised states to invoke the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 to tackle the pandemic in their jurisdictions. The 123-year-old colonial law, however, does not even define what a disease is, let alone an epidemic or a pandemic. Ind

Investing in Adolescent Health: Harnessing India’s Demographic Dividend
Jul 29, 2020

Investing in Adolescent Health: Harnessing India’s Demographic Dividend

Adolescents comprise a significant proportion of India’s population. Despite improvements in various outcomes, this demographic continues to face serious challenges to their health and well-being, including high levels of teenage pregnancies, low rates of antenatal care checkups for adolescent pregnancies, and lack of safe menstrual practices among adolescent girls. Investing in adolescent health should therefore be a policy priority. This repo

Investing in adolescent health: Harnessing the demographic dividend
Jan 07, 2020

Investing in adolescent health: Harnessing the demographic dividend

The issues with adolescent health are not limited to just the structure of the policy — it extends to the structure of institutions as well.

Leprosy and inequities in India’s healthcare: Beyond the persistent rhetoric of ‘Elimination’
Feb 12, 2019

Leprosy and inequities in India’s healthcare: Beyond the persistent rhetoric of ‘Elimination’

Even as India achieved statistical elimination of leprosy at the national level in 2005, the target continues to be part of the country’s policy documents. But what is “elimination”, to begin with? The policy documents are unclear of its operational definition, of whether it is at the national level, the state level or the district level. Despite lack of clarity, the political leadership has not failed to indulge in the rhetoric of “lepro

Leveraging disruptive technology innovations for healthcare delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa
Jun 26, 2019

Leveraging disruptive technology innovations for healthcare delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) constitutes 23.82 percent of the global disease burden but less than one percent of health expenditure.[1] The region has a severe shortage of trained medical personnel[2] and health delivery has low coverage. This brief outlines the most crucial challenges facing SSA’s healthcare system, and describes the footprint of Indian health companies in the region, especially in the context of the failure of the public sector t

Localisation: A Model Strategy for Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Healthcare in India
Aug 24, 2023

Localisation: A Model Strategy for Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Healthcare in India

Adapting health interventions to the social, economic, political, ecological, and cultural contexts of local communities increases trust and acceptability for policies and programmes. Locally led initiatives entrust local stakeholders with providing insights into grassroots-level realities and community-sensitive approaches. Global and country-wide evidence also highlights that granting authority and accountability to local stakeholders improves

Mapping the Literature on Development Assistance in Health: A Bibliometric Analysis
Apr 22, 2024

Mapping the Literature on Development Assistance in Health: A Bibliometric Analysis

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the literature on private health aid and official health assistance between 2000 and 2022. It provides an overview of the sites and themes in the literature pertaining to development assistance in health, and collates the significant policy recommendations presented therein. Several crucial findings emerge from the bibliometric analysis: 44.2 percent of the 489 papers/articles assessed focused on low

Maternal health in a changing world: A panel discussion
Aug 03, 2019

Maternal health in a changing world: A panel discussion

How can access, equity, equality, and technology shape maternal health in India and South Africa?

MDGs to SDGs: Reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in India
Dec 20, 2016

MDGs to SDGs: Reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in India

Goals 4 and 5 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused a great deal on maternal and child health, which has now been carried forward to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While India made significant strides in reducing maternal and child mortality, the country did not succeed in achieving its health goals. This paper makes an assessment of the current state of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child health (RMNC