The Social Determinants of Health in India

Drawing from the work of academics and practitioners from ten states across the country, this edited volume showcases and synthesises the diversity and richness of efforts to understand and act on the social determinants of health in India, the conditions in which we are born, grow, live work and age. Such an effort is salient in the current era of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which have foregrounded the issue of equity and the need for a comprehensive, multi-sectoral agenda for health and development. In India, particularly in the last decade, there have been myriad efforts to more critically theorise and intervene in areas with bearing on health, like conflict, nutrition or urbanisation, or to address the concerns of vulnerable groups like women, children and the elderly. From these efforts emerge lessons of convergence for academic and policymaking institutions in India who are looking to operationalise and bring life to the SDG agenda in India and other Low and Middle Income Country settings. The book comprises eleven chapters and six short commentaries that appear in conversation with each other, as well as an annexure of validated, ready-to-use indicators for monitoring of social determinants of health.

Compiles conceptual and empirical work from 10 different Indian states, along with reflections by researchers on writings by practitioners and vice versa Provides interesting combination of conceptual work, description of empirical experiences, and tools for further action Includes an appendix of indicators that can be immediately applied/adapted for intersectoral research Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Auteur

Devaki Nambiar is a Senior Research Scientist at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) who employs social science theory and mixed methods to understand and address health inequalities and social exclusion in health systems of resource-poor settings. She concurrently supports post-graduate training and capacity building in health policy and systems research as an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Public Health Delhi. She is also a Bernard Lown Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health working with community health workers on improving access to primary health care services related to non-communicable diseases. She has a doctorate in Public Health (PhD) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Arundati Muralidharan is Manager Policy for WASH in Health and Nutrition, Schools at WaterAid India. From 2012-2016, she was a Senior Research Fellow at PHFI. As a public health practitioner and qualitative researcher, Arundati isinterested in addressing the factors that underlie and influence health and health behaviour, with the aim to identify and promote effective, evidence-based strategies. Her focus is on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and gender. She has a Masters in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and a Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) from Boston University.

Contenu

1. Palimpsests of 'Social Determinants of Health' From Historical Conceptions to Contemporary Practice in Global and Indian Public Health Devaki Nambiar. Part I CONCEPTUALISATION. -2. Bringing the 'Social' Back in: Social Determinants of Health as a Methodological Lens Arima Mishra. -
   3. Conflict as a Social Determinant of Health: Explorations from Manipur Veda Yumnam & Rajib Dasgupta. -
      4. Deconstructing the Urban Transition: Conceptualisation, Measurement and Mechanisms Nandita Bhan. -
         5. Missing the Forest for the Trees the significance of the distal Social Determinants of Health in India Indira Chakravarthi. Part II OPERATIONALISATION. -
            6. Shram Jeevani: Special Task Force Report on Women Labour in Informal Economy in Bihar Sushmita Goswami. -7 . Who's in Charge of Social Determinants of Health? Understanding the Office of the Municipal Health Officer in Urban Areas .- 8. Scaling up a community-based approach to Social Determinants of Health: Reflections on the SEWA experience Sapna Desai. Part III OVERSIGHT. -
               9. Promoting Inter-sectoral Action on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management: Arriving at a Framework and Indicators to Inform Policy and Programmes Arundati Muralidharan. -
                  10. Chhattisgarh Swasth Panchayat Yojana: Convergent Decision Making for Health and its Determinants in Rural India Samir Garg. -
                      11. Community Monitoring and Action in Maharashtra is Making Child Nutrition Services Accountable and Effective Shweta Marathe & Abhay Shukla. -
                          12. Social Determinants of Maternal Health: Dead Women Talking Renu Khanna & Subhashri B. -
                              13. Weaving it together: Concepts, methods and indicators Devaki Nambiar and Arundati Muralidharan. Annexures: Indicator Registry.