Arnab Jana

Exploring the Role of Social Interactions and Supports in Overcoming Accessibility Barriers While Undertaking Health Tours in India

This article explores the phenomenon of companionship as an adaptation strategy to counter the existing barriers to health care access in developing nations. Companionship is argued to be an outcome of “inter” and “intra” household collaboration to offer diverse supports in addition to altruism. The analysis of the household survey conducted in West Bengal, India, exhibited different patterns of health care tours and the associated dependencies. In addition to support in terms of mobility while traveling and companionship while waiting for the opportunity, support in terms of refuge is also found to be essential, especially for the poor while they undertake regional tours. Causal models focusing on aggregated general health tours and specific regional tours were estimated separately to comprehend the implicit social interactions and their effects on the patient as well as the companions. The research demonstrated that accessibility barriers affect not only the ill, but also those associated with them and at times adversely. Segregation of regional tours illustrated the gaps, which instigated such tours and also might aid in health infrastructure planning as a whole.

Pinch Analysis as a Quantitative Decision Framework for Determining Gaps in Health Care Delivery Systems

With “good health and well-being” being set as one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), this paper proposes the application of pinch analysis, a quantitative method originally applied to conserve scarce resources in source-demand allocation networks, for identifying gaps in health care service delivery. This method is also found to be useful for health care infrastructure capacity planning and policy testing. The major contribution of this method in this context is identification of marginalized sections and testing specific policies targeted towards them, which will justify release of financial aid and infrastructure development for appropriate sections. We explored this concept for investigating the in-patient health care delivery system in the context of developing nations, where the health care facilities (both public and private) thrive by offering services at drastically different prices. A novel framework is developed in this paper, supported by a case study of Kolkata, India where both the gaps and surplus in the health care services faced by different sections of population are identified. In order to offset these gaps, we offer recommendations for possible policy implementation. A few hypothetical scenarios are also examined in order to understand the importance of pinch analysis for policy testing. We conclude by proving that pinch analysis can be a robust integrated decision-making framework for the health care sector, especially in resource-constrained communities.

Examining the changing health care seeking behavior in the era of health sector reforms in India: evidences from the National Sample Surveys 2004 & 2014

BackgroundHealth policy formulations in India have witnessed a shift from a reactive approach to a more proactive approach over the last decade. It is therefore important to understand the effectiveness of recent national health policies (such as the National Rural Health Mission and the National Urban Health Mission) in addressing the varied needs of the heterogeneous population of India.MethodsWe use datasets from the National Sample Surveys carried out in 2004 and 2014 to understand the change in the health seeking behavior as a result of these policies. The choice of health care facilities and the associated expenditures are compared through descriptive analyses. A multinomial logistic regression is used to identify the significant parameters which contribute towards the share of health care providers in India. The health status of two economically disparate Indian states (Bihar and Kerala) are also compared through specific metrics of performance.ResultsIt is seen that due to increased availability of facilities in close proximity, both rural and urban residents prefer to avail of those facilities which will result in minimization of transportation cost. The effectiveness of national health policies is found to vary on a regional scale. Literacy and health status have a strong correlation, thereby reinforcing that Bihar still lags far behind Kerala in terms of access to equitable health care.ConclusionTherefore, a hierarchical system, incorporating medical pluralism and tailor-made policies targeted at diverse health care demands, needs to be put in place to achieve Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals as decreed by the United Nations, i.e., “health for all”.

The BRICS plus Network: A Historical Overview and Future Perspectives of the Network’s Role in Human Factors and Ergonomics

In December 2016, at Tsinghua University in Beijing China, the first meeting of the newly constituted BRICSplus Network of Brazilian, Russian, Indian, Chinese and South African Ergonomics societies was held. The Network was created to promote and develop ergonomics in BRICS countries, collaboratively represent the BRICS countries at the level of the IEA and ensure that professional standards of ergonomics, in teaching, research and practice, are maintained. This paper offers a short overview of the history of each BRICS country’s ergonomics society, in which we highlight the impact of key individuals, events and milestones on the development of ergonomics in the respective countires. We then provide an overview of the current challenges faced by BRICS countries, with respect to the dissemination of ergonomics, which is proceeded by a snapshot of how the intended activities of the network will address these. We conclude by emphasizing how the BRICSplus network has the potential to create globalized ergonomics graduates, educators and researchers, who will continue to foster the advancement of ergonomics in their countries and more globally.

Medical Requirements During a Natural Disaster: A Case Study on WhatsApp Chats Among Medical Personnel During the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to explore a log of WhatsApp messages exchanged among members of the health care group Doctors For You (DFY) while they were providing medical relief in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake in April 2015. Our motivation was to identify medical resource requirements during a disaster in order to help government agencies and other responding organizations to be better prepared in any upcoming disaster. METHODS A large set of WhatsApp (WhatsApp Inc, Mountain View, CA) messages exchanged among DFY members during the Nepal earthquake was collected and analyzed to identify the medical resource requirements during different phases of relief operations. RESULTS The study revealed detailed phase-wise requirements for various types of medical resources, including medicines, medical equipment, and medical personnel. The data also reflected some of the problems faced by the medical relief workers in the earthquake-affected region. CONCLUSIONS The insights from this study may help not only the Nepalese government, but also authorities in other earthquake-prone regions of the world to better prepare for similar disasters in the future. Moreover, real-time analysis of such online data during a disaster would aid decision-makers in dynamically formulating resource-mapping strategies. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:652-655).

A Framework to Analyze Variation of the Satisfaction of Patients for Outpatient Needs: A Case of West Bengal, India

This study explored outpatient healthcare seeking behavior in India and estimated predisposing and enabling factors that influenced the satisfaction derived from the health care activity. The study assumed that if these gaps are fulfilled in the local facilities, this might invigorate lesser popular public providers within the neighborhood. The study was conducted in the state of West Bengal India. A multilevel framework was developed to incorporate factors affecting the satisfaction of the healthcare activity. Analysis revealed dependency on regional facilities and extensive traveling. Excessive traveling affected satisfaction negatively whereas in cases where respondent availed services from local primary health centers had positive impact on satisfaction. On the route to daily activity, ability to visit referred facility and visit to facility with modern amenities often triggered satisfaction. Segmented policy designed to fulfill these preferences might be indispensable to enhance local sufficiency. A Framework to Analyze Variation of the Satisfaction of Patients for Outpatient Needs: A Case of West Bengal, India