Dialogues on Primary Healthcare

An initiative by the Centre for Primary Healthcare @BHS and the Centre for Healthcare @IIMU

Dialogues on primary healthcare is a series of conversations, aimed to generate an evidence and experience informed discourse on practice and policy of primary healthcare in India. While there is a reasonable evidence that health systems founded on strong primary healthcare are effective, resilient and cost-effective, there is not adequate understanding on how to design and build such systems.

The series will invite speakers who have deep experience of practicing, researching or policymaking on primary healthcare, and its different aspects. They will share evidence and insights from their own research and practice and discuss their implications on larger primary healthcare ecosystem in India.

Episode 1: Publicly delivered Primary Health Care in India: Evolution, status and future

Date: January 27, 2024

Time: 4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Alma Ata declaration of 1978, signed by most nations of the world proclaimed that, “the governments of the nations have a responsibility for the health of the people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.”, and stipulated primary care as the key to attaining the goal of such a healthy nation.

In this episode, based on their own significant research over the last decade, in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, Dr Reetika Khera and Dr Sudha Ramani will discuss the evolution, current status and future directions of publicly delivered primary healthcare in India.

Speakers:

• Dr Reetika Khera is a professor of economics at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. She currently occupies the Narendra and Chandra Singhi Chair at IIT Delhi. She has worked on social policy issues, including health and nutrition, poverty and inequality, education, employment, social protection and technology.
  
  Professor of Economics, IIT Delhi
  
  
• Dr Sudha Ramani works on research pertaining to health policy and systems; qualitative evaluations of complex public health programs; and teaching/training personnel on health systems thinking and research methods.
  
  Researcher, India Primary Health Care Support Initiative (IPSI), Health Systems Transformation Platform, independent trainer and mentor.

Moderators:

• Dr Pavitra Mohan is the co-Founder and Director at Basic Healthcare Services. He has worked at UNICEF’s India Country Programme for nine years, leading its child health programs across India. He holds MBBS and an MD in Paediatrics from Delhi University and a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina.
  
• Prof Prakash Satyavageeswaran is Co-Chair, Centre for Healthcare and Faculty in Marketing Area at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur. His prior experience is in marketing/ social marketing in corporate and public health contexts.