Introduction: Health Inequities in India—The Larger Dimensions

This chapter provides a narrative that explains the politics of access (distribution, utilization, outcomes) as well as the context in which health inequalities are produced in India. While fields such as medical sociology, medical anthropology, health economics, community health, social medicine, epidemiology, and public health, among others, with their own theories, methods, and approaches are able to contribute distinctive dimensions, it becomes essential to engage across the boundaries in a collective manner to understand the complexity of health care that is increasingly shaped by the global market forces and ideologies. This volume thus opens up the possibility of constructing a new paradigm for understanding health sector as well as signalling a new field ‘health care studies’.