Main description:

Public Health in India: Policy Shifts and Trends captures transitions in the public health debates in India from different vantage points. It marks the erosions, reflected mainly in policy changes, that have taken place at the national level in the area of public health. The analysis of selected articles attempts to understand the amnesia about the health of people that has pervaded not only the professional and the political class but also those who believe in an elitist, bio-medical perspective, limited to hi-tech interventions at the cost of a balanced view on healthcare. This volume traces the history of public health debates in India over five decades and identifies the paradigm shifts in post-Independent India through contradictory approaches by state strategies and interventions. The transition of health policies and shifts in the state's commitment towards 'Health for All' form part of these debates.

The series 'Social Change in Contemporary India' brings together key texts published in the prestigious journal Social Change, from 1971 till present times. These writings, most of which are considered canonical, address important issues in health, education, poverty and agriculture with special focus on disadvantaged groups. These writings will help readers identify key points in the history of policymaking in India and major discourses and debates and their impact.

Contents:

About the Series
Foreword - Manoranjan Mohanty
Introduction - P. M. Arathi
SECTION I: Political Economy of Health and Illness
Sectional Introduction
Stratification and Mortality - A. K. Sharma
Do Socio-economic Development and Improvement of Health Go Together? A Comparison among Indian States - Suparna Som, Manoranjan Pal and Premananda Bharati
Trade in Health Services: Implications for People's Health - K. B. Saxena
Biomedical Research in India: Law and Ethics at Crossroads - Anjali Shenoi
Empathy in Physician-Patient Relationship: The Construct and Its Applicability to India's Health Care - Sharmila Borkar
Long Working Hours and the Risk of Chronic Disease - Anita Pal, Laxmi Kant Dwivedi and Dolly Kumari
SECTION II: Questions of Women's Health and Reproductive Justice
Sectional Introduction
Impact of Social Change on Health Problems of Tribal Women - Prabha Ramalingaswami
Productive and Reproductive Roles of Women - M. E. Khan
Menopause: A Fresh Look at the Much Misunderstood Phenomenon - Indira Jai Prakash
Female Infanticide in India: A Review of Literature - Sheela Saravanan
Women with Disability and Reproductive Rights: Deconstructing Discourses - Shubhangi Vaidya
SECTION III: Nutrition: A Social Determinant of Health
Sectional Introduction
Diet Habits in Rural Areas - Kamala Mankekar
Child Nutritional Status in Metropolitan Cities of India: Does Maternal Employment Matter? - Saumya Rastogi and Laxmi Kant Dwivedi
India's Declining Calorie Intake: Development or Distress? - Imrana Qadeer, Sourindra Mohan Ghosh and Arathi Presenna Madhavan
Food Security Eludes Tribals of Andhra Pradesh - K. Radhakrishna Murty
SECTION IV: Malthusian Spectre and Indian Public Health History
Sectional Introduction
Policy-makers and Research in Family Planning - Kamala Gopal Rao
Fertility and the Value of Children in Three Asian Countries: A Review of Salient Themes - Rajiv Balakrishnan
Population policy and programme in India: A review - Sukanya Srinivasan
Index