Health

Studies

Human Development in India (IHDS-I and II)

India Human Development Surveys I (2004-5) and II (2011-12) (IHDS-I and II) form part of a collaborative research program between researchers from the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland. The goal of this program is to document changes in the daily lives of Indian households in a society undergoing rapid transition.

Publications

Livelihood and Health challenges of riverine communities of the River Ganga

This project jointly conducted by NCAER and the Tata Centre for Development at UChicago, studies the health and livelihood implications of a particular riverine community, that is, fisher folk, along selected polluted stretches of the Ganga river. The study conducted in two phases entails conduction of water experiments using censors, along with in-person interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) of fishermen in the two states of West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The TCD team gathered high resolution spatially and temporally varying water data through submersible automated sensors. These sensors which were attached to a boat would sail on a pre-defined route of the river and collected real time information on pollution parameters. The NCAER research team undertook a survey of 1600 fishermen to understand if the levels of pollution have adversely affected their health, income, and fish catch over the years. The study also delve deeper into understanding the socio-economic challenges that the fishermen are facing and their perception with respect to the causes and implications of pollution. NCAER also conducted a contingent valuation exercise to analyze fisherman’s willingness to pay for good quality of water versus their willingness to accept compensation on account of their livelihood loss.

Post-launch Survey Report of IRDAI's Insurance Awareness Campaigns (2010-2015)

This NCAER report presents findings of a survey carried out in 2015 across 30 states and Union Territories (UTs) in both rural and urban areas to evaluate the effectiveness of IRDAI’s nation-wide awareness campaigns and a special initiative in Tripura. The study compares current findings on insurance awareness of insured and uninsured households for life, health and general insurance with a post launch survey in 2010. The 2015 survey also measures household awareness of IRDAI advertisements relating to spurious calls, rights and duties of the insured, and grievance and dispute resolution mechanisms.

Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy 2015-16

NCAER’s Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy (MYR) presents the most comprehensive, independent assessment of the Indian economy. The 2015–16 Review has been published for the fifth year running in a longstanding partnership with the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi. The MYR 2015 includes two special papers, also included in this publication.

Kerala Perspective Plan 2030

The Kerala Perspective Plan 2030 (KPP) prepared by NCAER for the Kerala State Board of Planning is a strategic path forward for Kerala to achieve economic and living standards equivalent to Nordic countries. KPP 2030 targets leapfrogging the high middle income threshold in the next 15 years and the high income threshold in the next 15 years. It seeks to position Kerala among the Nordic countries in terms of human capital and social and environmental indices. The mission is to achieve sustainable prosperity which includes economic, human well-being, social and green prosperity. To achieve that, Kerala needs to build a sustainable development framework, which involves building a “knowledge economy” and incorporate principles of “sustainable development”. The approach of KPP 2030 is to build on Kerala’s achievements, discuss the challenges faced by the state in a globalising economy and propose strategies to achieve the goals. That is the why the KPP is organised in four volumes, which elaborate on four interconnected themes that together constitute its central tenet of balancing economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental stewardship. Volume 1 begins with the an analysis of the growth of the economy, identifies growth drivers and dynamism of enterprises in different sectors. Volume 2 discusses the key bases to develop a knowledge economy. Volume 3 is the environmental sustainability volume. Infrastructure which is linked to both growth and environmental sustainability is included in this volume. The last volume is the social sustainability volume. Health, which is both foundational and a key engine of economic growth is included in this volume.

Macro Track January 2014

Content: 100 Days under MGNREGA-Reality or Myth?; Drivers of Poor Manufacturing Growth; Diaspora and Development through Business Networks; Healthcare in India: Challenges and Possibilities.

Addressing Key Issues in the Light of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Health and Family Welfare Sector in India

The cutback in public investment in the social sector, including health, is an inevitable consequence of the financial crises faced by both developed and developing countries since the late seventies.

Health-Care Expenditure in Rural India

This study attempts to estimate and analyse the level of health-care expenditure incurred by the state governments and households in the rural sector of the major states in India.

Levels and Differentials in Maternal Mortality in Rural India: New Evidence from Sisterhood Data

The paper presents estimates of maternal mortality derived from the NCAER-HDI survey (1994) for rural areas of India by broad geographical regions and by some selected background characteristics of respondents.

Determinants of Maternal Health Care Utilisation in India: Evidence from a Recent Micro Household Data

In India, utilisation of basic health services has remained poor. The reasons may be low levels of household income, high illiteracy and ignorance, and a host of traditional factors. In this paper, an attempt is made to discuss the issues associated with the demand and supply of the five measures of maternity care: antenatal care, blood pressure check up, place of delivery, use of trained help at the time of delivery and postnatal care.

Health Status and Curative Health Care in Rural India

In this study, an attempt has been made to examine the determinants of health status and curative health care of children, adults and the elderly in rural India using the NCAER-HDI (Human Development Indicator) national-level survey data for 1994.

Events

Roundtable Discussion on Caring for the Elderly in India: Challenges for a Society in Transition

April 2, 2014

NCAER organized a Roundtable Discussion on Caring for the Elderly in India: Challenges for a Society in Transition to examine some of the opportunities and challenges using a new and exciting panel survey conducted by NCAER and University of Maryland. India Human Development Survey (IHDS) carried out in 2004-5 and 2011-12 describes the changes in the lives of senior citizens over a period of tremendous social transformation. New results from IHDS framed this discussion.

What is public about public health? Evidence from three Indian Sanitation Studies

August 7, 2013

This seminar, organized by the NCAER brought together researchers from various institutions across Delhi. The presentation by Jeffrey Hammer, Princeton University and NCAER dwelled on three studies on sanitation and their comparisons with primary health care.

The 2013 India Policy Forum and 10th Anniversary Celebrations

July 16, 2013

The annual India Policy Forum (IPF) conference was held from 15 -17 July. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the conference also hosted a lecture titled ‘India: The Way Forward’ by Dr Raghuram Rajan, Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India.

Human Development in India: Evidence from IHDS

June 20, 2013

This workshop organised by NCAER in partnership with University of Maryland brought together researchers using IHDS-I data in India and overseas. This is the first household survey in India to have a full spectrum of health, education, economic, family, and gender modules for both urban and rural samples.

Gender-Inclusive Macroeconomic Policy Management

May 3, 2013

This one day workshop co –organised by NCAER and UNDP presented findings from NCAER’s Initiative on Gender-Inclusive Macroeconomic Policy Management which forms part of the UNDP’s Grant Agreement Project, “Policy and Advocacy”.

Researchers

Debasis Barik

Debasis Barik is a Fellow at NCAER, working with the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) team. His research interests lie in public health, demography, migration, gender, labour and social security. His dissertation was centered on the health and economic implications of ageing population in Indian states. His current research focuses on health and health systems. His other research interests include analysing the issues arising out of demographic transition in India.

Tarujyoti Buragohain

Tarujyoti Buragohain is an Associate Fellow at NCAER., Her research interests include infrastructure and energy issues. She has written several project reports for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Human Research Development. She has been a member of the Advisory Committee for Monitoring and Evaluation of Solar Photovoltaics in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, a member of the Research Advisory Committee on Tribal Development Research in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and is a life member of Bhartiya Arthik Shodh Sansthan and the Input–Output Research Association.

Soumi Roy Chowdhury

Soumi Roy Chowdhury is an Associate Fellow at NCAER with research interests in health and development economics. She is an applied researcher with experience of conducting and supervising field research. Her doctoral study focused on analyzing the socio-economic consequences of cancer in Nepal. Prior to joining NCAER, Soumi had also taught courses on Economic Tools and Introductory Microeconomics to the undergraduate students at the Department of Economics, University of New Mexico.

Anil Deolalikar

Anil Deolalikar has been Founding Dean of the School of Public Policy since February 2013 and a Professor of Economics at UC Riverside since 2003. Prior to this he taught at the University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. He is a development economist who has published extensively on the economics of child nutrition, health, education, poverty, and social protection in developing countries. In addition to his research, Deolalikar has extensive public policy experience and has served as an adviser to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNDP, USAID, and a number of developing country-governments and international organizations.

Deolalikar received his PhD in Economics from Stanford University, a Diploma in Economics from Cambridge University and a BA in Economics from Harvard University.

Link to view full profile:

https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/anild

Sonalde Desai

Sonalde Desai is a Professor at NCAER with a joint appointment as Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. She directs the NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC), a newly established Centre by NCAER with its consortium partners, University of Maryland and University of Michigan. She is an internationally known demographer whose work deals primarily with human development in developing countries with a particular focus on gender and class inequalities. While most of her research focuses on India, she has also undertaken comparative studies across South Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. At present, Sonalde Desai is leading the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), India’s only nationally representative panel study with interviews in 2004–05 and 2011–12. The next wave of IHDS is planned for 2019-20. The IHDS is used by over 9,000 users worldwide and has led to nearly 500 papers and dissertations. Desai is a member of the editorial committee of Population and Development Review and has served on the editorial advisory boards of many Indian and international journals. At present, she chairs the International Outreach Committee of the Population Association of America.

She has published articles in a wide range of Indian and international sociology and demography journals and is a frequent contributor to The Hindu.

Amaresh Dubey

Prabir Kumar Ghosh

Prabir Kumar Ghosh is a Fellow at NCAER. Currently, he is involved in coordinating all-India level survey work and analysis of large scale primary data. His research interests include development economics, human development, income, expenditure, poverty & nutrition, demography, and budgetary analysis on social sector & poverty alleviation programs.

Jeffrey S Hammer

Jeff Hammer is the Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor of Economic Development in the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University where he teaches economic development and the economics of health policy in poor countries. Prior to this, he worked for 25 years at the World Bank where he concentrated on various issues related to public economics, public expenditures and the social sectors, particularly health. His current research is on the quality of medical care in India, absenteeism of teachers and health workers, the determinants of health status and improving service delivery through better accountability mechanisms. His B.A. from Swarthmore College and Ph.D. from MIT are both in Economics.

Ruchi Jain

Ruchi Jain is a Senior Research Analyst at NCAER with a background in Population Studies. Her areas of research interest are maternal and child health, reproductive and sexual health, migration and rural development. At NCAER, she has worked on various projects like IDRC, HDPI and Rural Housing. She holds a doctorate degree in population studies from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. Her thesis focused on the risky behaviours of the single migrant women in Delhi. She was a recipient of the UGC-NET fellowship for her PhD at IIPS.

Dinesh Kumar Tiwari

Dinesh Kumar Tiwari is an Associate Fellow at NCAER. He is an anthropologist with a rich experience of primary data collection for large scale social surveys, qualitative interviews and experimental data collection with a specific emphasis on field management, monitoring and supervision, ensuring data quality. At NCAER he has worked for the India Human Development Survey (IHDS). He is currently engaged with the National Data Innovation Centre of NCAER. His areas of interest include migration studies, ethnographic research, public health and experimental economics.

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