Decentralization and Health Policy in South Asia: A Comparative Approach

This ambitious and insightful book provides a unique regional perspective on health policy across South Asia, focusing on how the decentralization of policy and governance leads to differing health outcomes across different countries in the region. Comparing the contexts and outcomes in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, the book asks how power sharing arrangements between central and subnational layers of government nevertheless result in varying levels of success across issues such as infant and under-five mortality rates. The book argues that it is the role of central government in formulating policy, and how this feeds into regional implementation, that partly explains the disparities in health outcomes across the region. The book will interest students and scholars of South Asia politics, global health and health policy more generally.