Health Care in a Globalized World
Rajib Dasgupta
STRATEGIC ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN HEALTH MANAGEMENT by K.V. Ramani, Dileep Mavlankar and Dipti Govil Sage Publications, 2009, 227 pp., 495
October 2009, volume 33, No 10

That India’s health service system poses critical health management challenges and demands bold initiatives is no exaggeration. The title is sure to be an invitation for public health scholars and health management professionals. The issues on which the volume is foregrounded include complexities and uniqueness of India’s healthcare system, fast-evolving technology and mechanisms of health financing in a globalizing world. Cross-cutting issues include equity, access and cost-effectiveness to name a few. The unfinished agenda of communicable diseases, and, maternal and child health issues have been compounded by newer problems of non-communicable diseases and urban health.

There are nineteen chapters grouped under ten themes. The introductory chapter by the editors is largely a summary of the chapters that follow. The ‘agenda setting’ would have emerged stronger had the philosophical moorings been explicit. Two points made by the editors are important:

  • That, we need to ‘develop a uniquely Indian set of health sector reforms to enable the health system in meeting the increasing expectation of its users.
  • That, ‘community-based volunteers for health are effective in changing community perspectives and improving health’.

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