- RESEARCH PROJECT
- URBAN HEALTH SYSTEMS
- INDIA
Meeting the Challenge of Urban PHC Systems in India — A Learning Sites Approach
- Bhubaneswar
- Kanpur
- Bengaluru
A multi-site, mixed-methods research partnership
- Public Health Foundation of India (IIPH B)
- IIT Kanpur
- UCL Global Business School for Health
India’s cities are growing at a pace that its primary health care system has never quite kept up with. More than half the world now lives in urban areas, yet health systems — in India and across low- and middle-income countries — were largely built with rural communities in mind. This project sets out to change that, by asking a straightforward question: what does it actually take to make urban primary health care work well, for everyone?
WHY THIS MATTERS
The Urban Health Gap
Urban living comes with a particular set of health challenges that rarely get the attention they deserve. Migrant workers without stable addresses, slum residents far from any public facility, people bouncing between informal providers and overstretched hospitals — these are everyday realities in Indian cities. The National Urban Health Mission has expanded coverage, but systemic gaps remain wide. We still do not fully understand how people choose where to seek care, why public facilities go underused even when they exist nearby, or how city governments and state health departments can work together more effectively. This project tackles those questions directly.