Public Health in India : Technology, governance and service delivery

Despite rapid advances in modern medicine and state-of-the-art health care services in the private sector in India, primary health care remains inaccessible to a majority of the population. This compendium of essays by scholars and practitioners addresses the three important themes of public health, micro-finance and governance with a view towards enabling policy and decision makers, academics, researchers and industry participants in improving service delivery.

Despite rapid advances in modern medicine and state-of-the-art health care services in the private sector, primary health care in India remains inaccessible to a majority of the population. Besides, even policymakers often do not have access to real-time data to fine-tune their policies or design appropriate research and intervention programmes.

Drawing on field experiences, this volume brings together scholars and practitioners to examine public health from different perspectives. It discusses practical and applied issues related to the health sector, especially the role of Information and Communications Technology (ICT); participation of civil society; service delivery; quality evaluation; consumer empowerment; data management; and research and intervention.

This book will be useful to scholars, students and practitioners of public health in developing countries such as India. It will also interest policymakers, health care professionals, and departments of public health management and those concerned with community medicine.