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Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Jawaharlal Nehru University

Master of Social Work (M.S.W.), University of Kerala

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), University of Kerala

Rama Vaidyanathan Baru

Professor, Jindal School of Public Health & Human Development

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ORCID ID 0000-0001-8823-8053
Key Expertise Aging, Commercial Determinants of Health, Globalization of Health, Health Seeking Behaviour, Privatisation of Health Services, Health Sector Reforms, Human Development

Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Jawaharlal Nehru University

Master of Social Work (M.S.W.), University of Kerala

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), University of Kerala

Biography

Dr Rama V. Baru is professor at Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development. Previously she served as a professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University.  She has taught the Masters in Public Health and PhD programmes  in the Centre for the last 26 years. She is an Honorary Fellow with the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi and an Honorary Professor at India Studies Centre, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.  Her research focus is on social determinants of health and infectious diseases, health policy, international health, privatisation of health services and inequalities in health.  She is the author of  Private Health Care in India:Social Characteristics and Trends Sage Publication.   She has edited several volumes on School Health Services in India: The Social and Economic Contexts (Sage Publication);  Medical Insurance Schemes for the Poor: Who Benefits?(Academic Publication); a co-edited volume with Anuj Kapilashrami titled ‘Global Health Governance and Commercialisation of Public Health in India: Actors, Institutions and the Dialectics of Global and Local’ published by Routledge.  Her latest is co-authored book (with Madhurima Nundy) ‘ Commercialisation of Medical Care in China: Changing Landscapes (Routledge).
She has published extensively in journals and contributed to several edited volumes.  She was awarded the Balzan Fellowship by the University College, London, the Indo-Shastri Canadian Fellowship, the Yusuf Hamied Fellowship at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York.  

She was formerly a member of the Technical Advisory Group for Lymphatic Filariasis at WHO, Geneva.  She chaired the committee that developed the curriculum for gender mainstreaming in the National Tuberculosis programme, India.  She is currently on several research and ethics committees in the Indian Council for Medical Research, Department of Health Research and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India. Most recently she has been invited to be a member of Strategic Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards at the WHO, Geneva.
 

Foundations in Public Health and Human Development

Globalization of Health and Healt Care

Project Director, Public-Private Mix for Continuity of Care for Older Persons: Study of Select Countries in Asia-Pacific Region, Research Consortium of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Shanghai Health Development Research Centre; Seoul National University; Jawaharlal Nehru University and Institute of Chinese Studies, India. Project Awarded and Funded by Asia-Pacific Observatory, World Health Organisation. (2022-2024)

Project on Student Mobility for Higher Education: Case Study of Indian Students Studying Medicine in China, Funded by National Institute of Education Planning and Administration, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India. (2018-19).

Project Director, Transnational Actors and Commercialisation of Health Care, ICSSR Sponsored Research Project (2013-2015)

Hon. Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi

Member, Ethics Committee for Faculty Research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Member, Ethics Committee, Leprosy Mission Trust India, New Delhi

Member, Managing Committee, CanSupport, New Delhi

Board Member, National Foundation of India, New Delhi

Former, Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Former, Member, Committee for Medical Ethics, Medical Council of India, New Delhi.

Former, Co-Chairperson and member of Task Force group on Public Private Partnerships in the National Rural Health Mission, Ministry of Health.

Baru, Rama V. (Ed) (2008), School Health Services in India: The Social and Economic Contexts, Sage Publications, Sage Publications.

Baru, Rama V., ‘Structural Adjustment and Health: The Changing Role of Non- Governmental Organisations’ in Sarkar,A (Ed) (2008) NGOs in Globalisation Era: Developmental and Organisational Facets, New Delhi, Rawat Publications.

Baru, Rama and Nundy,M (2008) ‘Blurring of Boundaries: Public-Private Partnerships in Health Services in India’, Economic and Political Weekly, January 26, 2008.

Baru,R et al (2008) ‘Full Meal or Packaged Deal?’ – A Commentary, Economic and Political Weekly, June 14th, Pp. 20-22.

Baru, Rama V. (1990), ‘Health Policy in Andhra Pradesh’ in Mukund K(Ed). in Andhra Pradesh Economy in Transition (Booklinks Corporation, Hyderabad.

Baru, Rama V. (1998), Private Health Care In India- Social Characteristics and Trends, Sage Publications, New Delhi.

Sadhana, G. and RV Baru (2000) Resurgence of Communicable Diseases, Economic and Political Weekly, 35(40), September.

Baru Rama V., Priya R, Qadeer I. (2001), ‘State and Private Sector in India: Some Policy Options’ in Private Health Sector in India- Review and Annnotated Bibliography, a joint effort of CEHAT, Mumbai; Foundation for Sustainable Development, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; and Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU, New Delhi.

Acharya, A. Baru, Rama V. and Nambissan, G. (2001) ‘The State and Human Development: Health and Education’ in Crossing A Bridge of Dreams: Fifty Years of India China, Tulika, New Delhi.

Baru, Rama V. (2001) ‘Health Sector Reforms and Structural Adjustment: A State Level Analysis’ in I. Qadeer, K. Sen & KR Nayar (Eds) Public Health and the Poverty of Reforms: The South Asian Predicament, New Delhi, Sage.

Baru, Rama V. (2002) ‘Health Sector Reform: The Indian Experience’ in Twaddle,A. (Ed), Health Care Reform Around the World, Auburn House, Connecticut.

Baru, Rama V. (2003) ‘Privatisation of Health Services: A South Asian Perspective’, Economic and Political Weekly, October 18, 2003.

Baru, Rama (2005) ‘Commercialisation and the Public Sector in India: Implications for Values and Aspirations’ in Maureen Mackintosh and Meri Koivusalo (Eds) Commercialisation of Health Care: Global and Local Dynamics and Policy Responses, London, Palgrave and UNRISD.

Baru, Rama V. (2005) ‘Gender and Social Characteristics of the Labour Force in Health Services’ in Exploring Gender Equations: Colonial and Post Colonial India edited by Shakti Kak and Biswamoy Pati; New Delhi, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

Baru, Rama V. (2005), ‘Privatisation of Health Care in India: A Comparative Analysis of Orissa, Karnataka and Maharashtra’ (Eds) Mehta, Aasha Kapur, P. Sharma, S. Singh, RK Tiwari & PR Panchamukhi, IIPA, CMDR & UNDP, New Delhi.

Baru, Rama V. (2005) ‘Private Sector in India: Raising Inequities’ in Leena V. Gangolli, Ravi Duggal and Abhya Shukla (Eds), Review of Health Care In India, CEHAT, Mumbai. Baru, Rama V., ‘Privatisation of Health Care: Conditions of Workers in Private Hospitals’ in Bhattacharya,M (Ed) Perspectives in Women’s Studies: Globalisation, New Delhi, Tulika Publications

Baru, Rama V. (2005), ‘Disease and Suffering: Towards an Explanation of Health Seeking Behaviour’, Indian Anthropologist, 35:1 &2.

Baru, Rama V. (2005), ‘Abdicating Responsibility’ in India Shining, Seminar, 537.

Baru, Rama and Meena Gopal (2006) ‘Decentralization and Disease Control Programmes: The Case of Filariasis’ in Niraja Gopal Jayal, Amit Prakash and Pradeep K. Sharma (Eds) Local Governance in India : Decentralization and Beyond, New Delhi, Oxford University Press.

Baru, Rama (2006) ‘Financing of Health Services: Alternatives to Private Insurance’ in Sujata Prasad and C. Sathyamala (Ed) Securing Health For All: Dimensions and Challenges, New Delhi, Institute of Human Development.

Nundy,M and Baru, R (2006) ‘Approaches to Health Financing: A Review of Country Experiences’, Journal of Health and Development, Vol.2, No. 3 & 4. Pp. 37-57.

Baru, Rama. ‘Dynamics and Quality of Private Health Services in India’. Paper presented at the International Workshop on ‘Public-Private Mix : A Public Health Fix?-Strategies for Health Sector Reform in South and South-East Asia’ Nareusan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand, 20-22nd June 2007.(Forthcoming as a research monograph).

Baru, Rama V, (2025) Changing Avatars of Social Medicine in the Indian Sub-Continent, in Anne Kveim Lie, Jeremy Greene & Warwick Anderson (Ed.) Medicine on a Larger Scale: Global Histories of Social Medicine, (Pp.278-296), Cambridge University Press, UK.

Baru, Rama V. (2025) Interstate Variations in Private Sector growth in Medical Care, in Rao, M and B. Arora (ed) Public Health and Federalism in India: Dissonant Discourses. London, Routledge.

Baru, Rama V (2009) Ideology and Health Sector Reforms: A State Level Analysis’ in Girish Kumar (Ed) Health Sector Reforms in India: Issues, Trends and Prospects, New Delhi, Manohar Publications, 2009.

Baru, Rama V. And Nundy,M (2009) ‘Health Public Private Partnerships in India: Stepping Stones for Improving Women’s Reproductive Health Care?’ in Timmerman,M and M.Kruesmann, Partnerships for Women’s Health: Striving for Best Practice within the UN Global Compact, United Nations University, Tokyo.

Baru RV et al (2010) Inequities in Access to Health Services in India: Caste, Class and Region, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 45, Issue No. 38. September. Pp. 49-58

Baru, Rama V. and Dhaleta, S. Mahila Samakhya (2014), ‘Approaches to Women’s Health’ in Ramachandran, V and K. Jandhyala (Ed) Cartographies of Empowerment: The Story of Mahila Samakhya, New Delhi,Zubaan Publishers.

Deshpande, M, R, Baru and M. Nundy (2014) Re-imagining School Health Programmes : A Study Across Selected Municipal Schools in Delhi. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 11(1): 5- 39.

Baru, Rama V. (2015) Medical Insurance Schemes for the Poor: Who Benefits? Academic Publications, New Delhi

Nundy, M and RV Baru (2015) Lifting Drug Price Controls in China, Economic and Political Weekly, 50 (22)

Kapilashrami, Anuj and Rama V. Baru (Ed)(2018) Global Health Governance and Commercialisation in India: Actors, Institutions and the Dialectics of Global and Local. London, Routledge.

Baru, Rama V. and Nundy, M (2020) Commercialisation of Medical Care in China: Changing Landscapes (London and New York: Routledge).

Nundy, M and RV Baru (2020) Arrangements for the Care of Elderly in Shanghai, China Report, 56(3). July, Sage publications, New Delhi

Baru, Rama V. and M. Nundy (2021) History and Characteristics of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the health service system in India. In Jasmine Gideon and Elaine Unterhalter (ed) Critical Reflections of Public Private Partnerships. London, Routledge.

Baru RV et al (2021) Integration of Health Services for Older Persons in Urban India. Economic and Political Weekly, 56(37):36. September. Pp.36-43

Baru, Rama et al, (2024) Public-Private Mix for Continuity of Care for Older Persons: Study of Select Countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, WHO Regional Office, Manila.

Arutselvi,D and Rama V. Baru (2024) Intersection of Poverty and Gender in coping with Diabetes: Insights from rural Tamilnadu in TK Sundari Ravindran et al (Eds) Handbook on Sex, Gender and Health: Perspectives from South Asia. Springer

Baru, Rama V. (2024) Women Missionaries in Medical Care and Institution Building in India, in Lata Singh and Shashank Shekhar Sinha (Ed) Gender in Modern India: History, Culture, Marginality. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Baru, Rama V. and M. Nundy (2024) Transformation of Health care in China: Pre and post Mao Era. Routledge International Handbooks, New York and Oxon.
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8823-8053
Key Expertise Aging, Commercial Determinants of Health, Globalization of Health, Health Seeking Behaviour, Privatisation of Health Services, Health Sector Reforms, Human Development