糖心TV

About Me

I am a Historian of global public health with a background in Public Health, Economics and Population Science. I am interested in understanding the historical antecedents of health policies to note how these were shaped using public policy frameworks. My training helps me apply an interdisciplinary perspective to understand and analyse developmental concerns, mainly as they have emerged in India over the past few decades.

My Current Research

I work on the narrative of counterfeit/fake medicines. My dissertation deconstructs the discursive history of pharmaceuticals as 鈥榦bjects of innovation鈥� traded between nations and protected by property rights. In this work, the spectre of 鈥渇ake/counterfeit鈥� created by introducing and enforcing anti-counterfeit legislation is interpreted as a transgression committed by industrialised nations to maintain their monopoly over innovative medicines, primarily by using the narrative of drug quality as an extraneous barrier.

In particular, this historical research pivots around the incidents of seizures of Indian generic drugs at the borders of various European nations between 2008-09 on suspicion of being counterfeit. According to a comprehensive review of the sources concerning seizures and drawing similarities with other incidents like Kenya鈥檚 Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008, seizures partake in the neoliberal rhetoric of knowledge within which the narrative of fake medicine has emerged. Desperate measures represented by anti-counterfeit legislation correspond with another critical historical moment that established pharmaceuticals as protected objects: the harmonisation of intellectual property rights (IPR). This co-emergence reveals discursive frameworks aimed towards disarming India鈥檚 booming domestic pharmaceutical sector.

Although fake/counterfeit drugs pose a significant hazard to public health, actions like seizures align with large pharmaceutical businesses鈥� expansionist and imperialist impulses. Their long-standing position on generic medications as inferior and substandard, while leveraging the same pharma to generate profits by trading bulk pharmaceuticals with them, is highly intertwined.

Indian pharmaceutical capabilities developed mainly in the post-independence period via absorption, translation, and imitation until eventually withdrawing into total isolation in the 1970s owing to pressures from proprietary corporations. With the support of such strategies, indigenous pharma enterprises in India could withstand global challenges, reconfigure their technical chemical competence, and attain more socially acceptable, context-dependent, and renegotiated 鈥榓gency鈥�. The success of India鈥檚 native industry, which is atypically 鈥渟mall pharma,鈥� is examined via the microhistory of Cipla.

My Previous Research

My previous research mainly focused on domestic health policies relevant to mitigating challenges in a rapidly industrialising and urbanising India. My engagements at various government and non-government organisations involved conducting health sector analyses and data-driven health policy assessments to find opportunities to improve the uptake of health services, reduce inequality and ultimately improve health outcomes.

My Motivation and Aspirations

My previous research work found that global forces directly influence national health policies. These could either be in the form of a mutually agreed upon agenda of the United Nations, such as the Millennium or Sustainable Development Goals, or intrinsic to the ideology of developmental assistance or philanthropic initiatives. In addition, health systems worldwide are heavily impacted by neoliberal policies turning health into a commodity - the wealthy can purchase it, while the poor depend on developmental aid or charity initiatives for assistance. The public-funded state health sector is either diminished in importance or focuses only on enhancing India鈥檚 foreign image based on indices such as the Global Hunger Index, Human Development Index, Transparency, Ease of 糖心TV etc.

Moreover, as we know it today, Global Health has become increasingly individualised, technology-driven and apolitical. Nonetheless, its antecedents lie in people-centred, public health focussed and community-oriented approaches. Between such reimagination and reinvention, global health has lost its purpose as a practising social, economic and political equaliser. Such international forces impact the health policies of developing nations with long-term consequences. Such concerns encouraged me to thoroughly study global influences that impact public health at the national level. I use historical analysis to reorient the present by bringing comparative perspectives to bear on the issues of health policies affected by global dynamics.

Publications

Peer Reviewed

1. Hodges, Sarah, Julia Hornberger, Ushehwedu Kufakurinani, Shalini Rudra, Christopher Sirrs, Nishpriha Thakur, and others, 鈥榃hen Suspicion Replaces Evidence in Public Health鈥�, The Lancet, 398.10311 (2021), 1565鈥�66 <>

2. Rudra, Shalini, and Oommen C. Kurian, 鈥楶rogress Tracking of Health-Related SDGs: Challenges and Opportunities for India鈥�, Asian Journal of Public Affairs, 10.2 (2018), 24鈥�52

3. Joe, William, and Shalini Rudra, Mala Ramanathan and Udaya S. Mishra, 鈥楽ocial Choice and Political Economy of Health: Reflections on the National Health Policy, 2017鈥�, Economic and Political Weekly, 53(28) (2018), 83-91 <>

4. Rudra, Shalini, Aakshi Kalra, Abhishek Kumar, and William Joe, 鈥楿tilisation of Alternative Systems of Medicine as Health Care Services in India: Evidence on AYUSH Care from NSS 2014鈥�, PLoS ONE, 12.5 (2017), e0176916 <>

5. Joe, William, Shalini Rudra, and S V Subramanian, 鈥楬orizontal Inequity in Elderly Health Care Utilization: Evidence from India鈥�, Journal of Korean Medical Science, 30.Suppl 2 (2015), S155鈥�66 <>

6. Gupta, Indrani, William Joe, and Shalini Rudra, 鈥楬IV Prevention: Towards a 鈥淪tructural-plus鈥� Approach鈥�, Health, 5(1), (2013), 102-108. <>

7. Prinja, Shankar, Pankaj Bahuguna, Shalini Rudra, Indrani Gupta, Manmeet Kaur, S. M. Mehendale, and others, 鈥楥ost Effectiveness of Targeted HIV Prevention Interventions for Female Sex Workers in India鈥�, Sexually Transmitted Infections, 87.4 (2011), 354鈥�61 <>

Commentaries

1. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥楴agaland Has Poorest Maternal and Child Healthcare Indicators in Northeast India鈥�, Health Express, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, (Feb. 2018) <>
2. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥楥hildhood Wasting in India on Rise: Here鈥檚 What Should Be Done鈥�, Health Express, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, (Oct. 2017) <>
3. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥業ndia Can Offer Developmental Solutions to the World鈥�, NDTV < >
4. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥業mmunisation Coverage: India Far Away from Meeting Targets鈥�, Health Express, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. (Apr. 2017) <>
5. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥楬igh Income Not Translating to Better Health in Haridwar鈥�, Health Express, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. (Feb. 2017) <>
6. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥�#Elections2017: Uttarakhand Has Rich People鈥揳nd Children with Poor Health鈥�, Health Express, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. (Feb. 2017) <>
7. Rudra, Shalini, Oommen C. Kurian, Rhea Colaco and Raushan Tara Jaswal, 鈥楧own to the District: The Health of 5 States Going to Polls鈥�, Health Express, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. (Jan. 2017) <>

Reports

Unpublished

Rudra, Shalini Determinants of risky sex among male migrants in India, International Union for Scientific Studies of Population (IUSSP), 2012.

Working Papers

1. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥楪ender-Responsive Budgeting: A Task Ahead for India鈥檚 15th Finance Commission鈥� (Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, 2018) <>
2. Rudra, Shalini and Oommen Kurian, 鈥楾racking SDG Targets on Health and Nutrition: Challenges and Opportunities for Streamlining Surveys鈥� (Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, 2017) <>

Book Reviews

1. Rudra, Shalini, 鈥業n Spite of Stigma鈥�, review of Birth in the Age of AIDS: Women, Reproduction and HIV/AIDS in India, by Cecilia Van Hollen (California: Stanford University Press), Economic Political Weekly, 50.21, (2015), 49-51 >

Book Chapters

1. Indrani Gupta, Mayur Trivedi, Shalini Rudra, William Joe, Benoy Peter, and Ravi Subbiah, 鈥業mplications and Feasibility of Commercial Health Insurance for People Living With HIV in India鈥�, in Three Decades of HIV & Aids in Asia, ed. by Jai P. Narain, 1st edn (New Delhi: Sage, 2012), p. 472 <>
2. Shalini Rudra, 鈥楢re Elderly Living with Family in Good Health?鈥�, in India鈥檚 Aged: Needs and Vulnerabilities, ed. by Udaya S. Mishra and S. Irudaya Rajan, 1st edn (Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, 2017), p. 272 <
3. Shalini Rudra and Priyanka Shah, 鈥楶ollution-Free Progress? Ambient Air Quality in India and China鈥�, in China Ascendant: Its Rise and Implications, ed. by Harsh V. Pant (New Delhi: HarperCollins India, 2019) <>

Presentations and outreach

1. 鈥�(Mis)interpretation or deliberate misuse of medical testing鈥� as part of the workshop 鈥�Medical Testing, Past and Present鈥�, Department of History, University of 糖心TV, in-person, 1 December 2022.
2. 鈥�The case of seizure of generic medicines: An overextension of law or de-legitimising commodity trade鈥�, as part of Summer School 鈥楴o trespassing? Property/Theory between the disciplines鈥� for the 鈥�, in-person/online, 18-24 July 2022.
3. 鈥�Discursive histories of counterfeit medicines and their adoption into legal instruments鈥� as part of a Roundtable 'Translating Social Science Approaches to Pharmaceuticals鈥� as part of the conference on 鈥楳obilising Methods in Medical Anthropology鈥�, online, 18-21 January 2022.
4. Podcast recorded as part of 糖心TV P.G. Podcast (July 2020); on 鈥業nternational Organizations and Networks: Health and Disability in the Late Twentieth Century鈥� panel, 24 July 2020,

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