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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Mavalankar Dileep; |
| Abstract: | The world’s democracy and its second most populous country, India was the first developing country to have a national family planning program and has implemented countrywide reproductive health programs such as RCH I. India’s primary health care and the family planning programs have come a long way after the independence in improving health indicators in general, yet it has high material and under five mortality rates. The country has developed an extensive network of primary health centers and sub- to provide basic medical care to huge (80%) rural population. In the rural health care system, the ANM is the key field level functionary who interacts directly with the community and has been the central focus of all the reproductive child health programs. In contrast with resident ANM of sixties who was providing delivery and basic curative services to the community, today’s commuting multi purpose worker is more involved in family planning and preventive services. This has implications on the implementation and coutcomes of maternal health programs in rural India. The midwifery role of the ANM should be restored if the goal of dcreasing maternal mortality has to be met. The priority will have to change from family planning immunization to comprehensive reproductive health including maternal and neonatal care. These changes will require sustained and careful planning/resource allocation. Increasing resources along with systemic reforms will improve health status for women and children who are the focus of Reproductive Child Health programs. |
| Date: | 2008–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2008-03-01&r=cwa |
| By: | Ramani K.V.; Sharma Bharati |
| Abstract: | Maternal Health Services are one of the basic health services to be provided by nay government health system as pregnant women are one of the most vulnerable victims of dysfunctional health system, India, in spite of rapid economic progress is still farm away from the goal of lowering maternal mortality to less than 100 per 100,000 live births. It still accounts for 25.7% maternal deaths. The maternal mortality in India varies across the states. Geographical vastness and socio-cultural diversity make implementation of health sector reforms a difficult task. The chapter analyses the trends in maternal mortality and various maternal health programs implemented over the years including the maternal health care delivery system at various levels including the recent innovative strategies. It also identifies the reasons for limited success in maternal health and suggests measures to improve the current maternal health situation. It recommends improvement in maternal death reporting, evidence based, focused, long term strategy along with effective monitoring of implementation for improving Maternal Health situation. It also stress the need for regulation of private sector and proper Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy together with a strong political will for improving Maternal Health. |
| Date: | 2008–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2008-03-02&r=cwa |
| By: | Subhash Ray (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use the 2004-05 Annual Survey of Industries data to estimate the levels of cost efficiency of Indian manufacturing firms in the various states and also get state level measures of industrial organization (IO) efficiency. The empirical results show the presence of considerable cost inefficiency in a majority of the states. Further, we also find that, on average, Indian firms are too small. Consolidating them to attain the optimal scale would further enhance efficiency and lower average cost. |
| Keywords: | Data Envelopment Analysis; Efficient Production Scale; Industry Efficiency |
| JEL: | C61 D21 L60 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2008-10&r=cwa |
| By: | Gauri Khanna (IUHEI, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the impacts on child health, using diarrhoe as the health outcome (amongst children living in households), with access to different types of water and sanitation facilities, and from other socio-economic and child specific factors. Using cross-sectional health survey data for India, we employ the propensity score method to match children belonging to different treatment groups, defined by water types and sanitation facilities, with children in a control group. We also employ non-matching techniques to compare our results and to check for their robustness. Our results indicate that disease-specific awareness has strong marginal effects on reducing the predicted probabilities of diarrhoeal outcomes in young children, which are consistent across the models utilised. We also find disease-specific awareness to have the largest impact on reducing the burden of disease from diarrhoea across a select group of predictors. |
| Keywords: | Diarrhoea, Water, Sanitation, Propensity Score, Matching Techniques |
| JEL: | I1 D1 C35 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heiwp02-2008&r=cwa |
| By: | Girja Sharan; Madhavan T. |
| Abstract: | The Kutch region of north-west India is hot and semiarid, chronically short of drinking water. Dew forms frequently in the areas near the coast, over a span of eight-month (October- May) coinciding with the entire dry part of the year. Dew water is potable and safe. Dew harvest systems - devices to condense and collect dew - have been developed which could be installed on building roofs (condenser-on-roof), open ground (condenser-on-ground) and on frames (condenser-on-frames). The key component is the condenser, made of thin plastic film insulated underneath, which cools at night by radiative exchange with cloud-free sky. Condensation occurs when the film cools to or below the dew point of the surrounding air and humidity level is high - upwards of 85%. Over the season of eight months, 15 – 20 mm of dew water can be harvested. In this region where rainfall is very erratic and in normal years only 300 mm, harvested dew water can be an appreciable supplement. It can also be a small but critical supply for plants in nurseries. Design principle of efficient dew condenser is discussed and dew water collection in some recently installed working systems reported. |
| Keywords: | dew condenser, radiative cooling, drinking water, coastal arid areas |
| Date: | 2008–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2008-03-03&r=cwa |