Policy Wise

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

April Harding at the Global Health Policy blog responds to the Economist article (linked here) and makes a few telling comments,
As noted in The Economist, the interventions assessed included simultaneous free distribution of bednets and free distribution of [...]

A story in the Economist questions the conventional wisdom that giving away free goods is not the best way to advance public policy,
Dr Kochi and his team reviewed antimalaria operations in Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia, looking mainly at under-fives, who are most threatened by the disease. WHO says that over 1m people die each [...]

(Co authored with Pratik Mhatre.)

It is time the issue of urban transport is addressed in a holistic manner.
Five years ago, Ratan Tata made a tryst with destiny. He promised a car for Rs one lakh-a people’s car-and he has delivered. The new Tata Nano has been widely praised for its indigenous design, engineering skills [...]

In a rather rambling article in the Hindustan Times, Lalita Panicker attacks the ”theory” that medical tourism can help the Indian public health system,
But, we hold that medical tourism is a panacea to the ills that beset our public health system. Let us look at the figures. Today, 150,000 foreigners come to India for healthcare [...]

The emigration of health professionals from developing world to member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) remains a highly contentious issue. In America itself, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), International Medical Graduates (IMGs) constitute approximately 25% of the physician population. Indians are by far the largest group-nearly 20% of [...]

A new report by Mckinsey and company estimates that US can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by half at a manageable cost,
The United States could reduce GHG emissions in 2030 by 3.0 to 4.5 gigatons of CO2e using tested approaches and high-potential emerging technologies. These reductions would involve pursuing a wide array [...]

A new study conducted in Punjab by the Chandigarh based Post-Graduate Institute for Medical Education and research has shown high rates of mutated DNA,
Preliminary results from a two-year study commissioned by the Punjab Water Pollution Control Board found mutated DNA in blood samples of 65 percent of the people tested. The study also found high [...]

Arjun Singh imposed quotas. Ramadoss threw out Venugopal. What’s the difference?

After nearly year a struggle, the union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss has finally managed to dislodge the director of the All India Institute of Medical Science, Dr P Venugopal from his post. There is little Ramadoss hasn’t tried in the last one years: media war, [...]

India has been ranked a disappointing 128th in the latest United Nations Human Development Index rubbing shoulders with the likes of Chad and Burkina Faso. More disappointingly, there has been virtually no improvement from last year.
The entire ranking can be seen here.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Preferences for the male child is common across almost all Asian countries. Despite the economic growth of the recent decades, the situation hasn’t really improved and in some cases has actually deteriorated. But South Korea finally seems to be bucking the trend,
In South Korea, once one of Asia’s most rigidly patriarchal societies, a centuries-old preference [...]