Contributed articles.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the discourse on health in India, examining governance, policies, programmes, and the involvement of the state and civil society in ensuring health for all and especially for people living with HIV/AIDS. The book critically examines government measures to improve healthcare services in India, specifically for disadvantaged groups like the poor and women who face several obstacles in accessing healthcare. It explores various aspects of healthcare accessibility, gender equity measures and strategies implemented by the state and highlights the significant contributions of civil society organizations and activists in shaping healthcare provisions, as well as their influence on the discourse surrounding health and HIV/AIDS. With a special study based on the author’s research on HIV-positive women in Karnataka (a high-prevalence state) and West Bengal (a low-prevalence state), and an examination of government policies, financial allocations, and relevant reports, this book fills a crucial gap in academic literature by offering a comprehensive analysis of health and governance in relation to HIV-positive women, in India. The book will be a valuable resource for students and researchers in public health, policy studies, community health, gender studies, sociology of health and illness, and Indian government and politics. It will also be useful for policymakers in the development of more effective and inclusive healthcare policies.

This is the first book to address public health issues in traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM). It presents state-of-the-art reviews of TCAM research in a range of priority public health areas such as malaria and HIV and in such common ailments as skin conditions and orthopedic injury in developing countries. Contributions analyze policy trends in areas such as financing of TCAM and education and training in this field as well as selected case studies of model TCAM projects. Important chapters on research methodology, ethical and safety issues, and intellectual property rights pertaining to traditional medicine are also presented. Public financing for TCAM is a test of the commitment of governments, and the book includes an analysis from the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Atlas data of the worldwide trends in this area. With safety concerns foremost in the minds of both policy makers and the public, the book offers a global overview of policy and legislative trends in this field as well as an important set of guidelines for pharmacovigilance and TCAM products. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (1,729 KB). Contents: Foreword (Allan Rosenfield); Policy: Introduction (Gerard Bodeker & Gemma Burford); Policy and Public Health Perspectives on Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Overview (Gerard Bodeker, Fredi Kronenberg & Gemma Burford); Financing Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Health Care Services and Research (Gemma Burford, Gerard Bodeker & Chi-Keong Ong); Training (Gerard Bodeker, Cora Neumann, Chi-Keong Ong & Gemma Burford); Safety: Issues and Policy (Gilbert Shia, Barry Noller & Gemma Burford); Pharmacovigilance of Herbal Medicines: A United Kingdom Perspective (Joanne Barnes); Medicinal Plant Biodiversity and Local Healthcare: Sustainable Use and Livelihood Development (Gerard Bodeker & Gemma Burford); Home Herbal Gardens OCo A Novel Health Security Strategy Based on Local Knowledge and Resources (G Hariramamurthi, P Venkatasubramanian, P M Unnikrishnan & D Shankar); Humanitarian Responses to Traditional Medicine for Refugee Care (Cora Neumann & Gerard Bodeker); Public-Private Partnerships: A Case Study from East Africa (Patrick Mbindyo); Public Health Issues: Priority Diseases and Health Conditions: Malaria (Merlin L Willcox & Gerard Bodeker); HIV/AIDS: Traditional Systems of Health Care in the Management of a Global Epidemic (Gerard Bodeker, Gemma Burford, Mark Dvorak-Little & George Carter); An Overview of Clinical Studies on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in HIV Infection and AIDS (Jianping Liu); Skin and Wound Care: Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Public Health Dermatology (Gemma Burford, Gerard Bodeker & Terence J Ryan); Traditional Orthopaedic Practices: Beyond OCyBonesettingOCO (Gemma Burford, Gerard Bodeker & Jonathan Cohen); Research: Clinical Trial Methodology (Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, Urmila Thatte & Jianping Liu); Ethical Issues in Research (Merlin L Willcox, Gerard Bodeker & Ranjit Roy Chaudhury); Intellectual Property Rights (Gerard Bodeker); Epilogue (Gerard Bodeker & Gemma Burford). Readership: Public health specialists and departments; health policy departments in ministries of health and universities; colleges of traditional and complementary medicine; World Health Organization and affiliated institutions; medical schools as a background text on TCAM."

The population of Asia is growing both larger and older. Demographically the most important continent on the world, Asia's population, currently estimated to be 4.2 billion, is expected to increase to about 5.9 billion by 2050. Rapid declines in fertility, together with rising life expectancy, are altering the age structure of the population so that in 2050, for the first time in history, there will be roughly as many people in Asia over the age of 65 as under the age of 15. It is against this backdrop that the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) asked the National Research Council (NRC), through the Committee on Population, to undertake a project on advancing behavioral and social research on aging in Asia. Aging in Asia: Findings from New and Emerging Data Initiatives is a peer-reviewed collection of papers from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand that were presented at two conferences organized in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indonesian Academy of Sciences, and Science Council of Japan; the first conference was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, and the second conference was hosted by the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi. The papers in the volume highlight the contributions from new and emerging data initiatives in the region and cover subject areas such as economic growth, labor markets, and consumption; family roles and responsibilities; and labor markets and consumption.

This volume has articles contributed by health researchers, practitioners, policy advocates, programme managers and a journalist, and poems by renowned poet–physician Gieve Patel. Each presents a distinctive view of a particular group of frontline health providers, based on field research or on the authors’ respective experiences of working with or as providers. The health providers addressed in this volume include doctors (working in the public and private sectors), nurses, public health workers, counsellors, traditional practitioners and homecare providers. Different groups of health providers face struggles at diverse frontiers — social, professional and systemic. In the context of reforming health systems, government health workers must constantly negotiate the vagaries of changing working environments and policy vacillations. For traditional and homecare providers, formal health systems and structures often only reject and exclude their contributions. Medical doctors, conversely, face difficult challenges of introspection, as they tread the line between personal gain and public service. The ideas and themes that emerge in this collection not only contribute to the understanding of providers’ roles as actors in the health systems and societies of contemporary India, but re-examines preconceptions about this critical occupational group. This volume advances the case for a deeper appreciation of India’s complex landscape of healthcare provision, and of the potential roles of frontline health providers as central figures in development.

The WHO World report on ageing and health is not for the book shelf it is a living breathing testament to all older people who have fought for their voice to be heard at all levels of government across disciplines and sectors. - Mr Bjarne Hastrup President International Federation on Ageing and CEO DaneAge This report outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. This will require a transformation of health systems away from disease based curative models and towards the provision of older-person-centred and integrated care. It will require the development sometimes from nothing of comprehensive systems of long term care. It will require a coordinated response from many other sectors and multiple levels of government. And it will need to draw on better ways of measuring and monitoring the health and functioning of older populations. These actions are likely to be a sound investment in society's future. A future that gives older people the freedom to live lives that previous generations might never have imagined. The World report on ageing and health responds to these challenges by recommending equally profound changes in the way health policies for ageing populations are formulated and services are provided. As the foundation for its recommendations the report looks at what the latest evidence has to say about the ageing process noting that many common perceptions and assumptions about older people are based on outdated stereotypes. The report's recommendations are anchored in the evidence comprehensive and forward-looking yet eminently practical. Throughout examples of experiences from different countries are used to illustrate how specific problems can be addressed through innovation solutions. Topics explored range from strategies to deliver comprehensive and person-centred services to older populations to policies that enable older people to live in comfort and safety to ways to correct the problems and injustices inherent in current systems for long-term care.