Efficient State Health Delivery System and Social Conservatism

Societal affiliations and restrictions on humans tend to be stronger and more pervasive wherever the state’s health and welfare provisions are either inadequate or absent.


Parents from a developing, third world country’s society is more likely to hold to their growing children to a much longer period, marry them off with their consent, within their social strata and religious/communal boundaries and play more decisive and influential role, than would a parent from a developed nation with a better health management and delivery system.

Women tend to be freer, individualistic and independent of their parents, husbands and other relationship connections, in a country where pre and post natal care is adequate and affordable. Legality of abortions is another factor inducing women to be liberalized from their societal bonds.

In Asian countries, barring a few, and in Africa, sticking to traditional and outdated maternity-natal practices, confounded by the impoverished state expenditure, has led to thousands of women dying every year during child birth and pre natal complications.

In a reverse application of the above statement, one can infer that, the higher and better the state intervention into its peoples’ health and welfare, the farther the people move away from their conservative, sentimentalist and, what is often believed as, traditional upbringing and mentoring of their off-springs, which would, on the longer run, lead to an egalitarian society devoid of deep rooted striations.

My new model on nationwide policy implementation

Model on Nationwide Policy Implementation

(I.B. Saravanan)

A project which needs to be implemented throughout a country should either be for a public cause like awareness on polio or AIDS or national cause (like government saving on import or increasing income from exports etc. which would later translate to public cause). Implementing such a project requires Vision of Leaders, Political Will of Stakeholders, Stability of Governments, Public Flexibility and Adaptation Mechanisms available in the country.

Vision of Leaders

When the leaders in a country are qualified, ambitious and are visionaries, then those countries prosper at a faster pace. It is this vision of a leader, who leads a people and organization of people which benefits the nation. Unambiguity, clear defined path and self corrective measures are few traits of visionaries who lead their countries towards success in economic and commercial front.

Stability of Governments

Stability of successive governments is vital for any projects’ continuance and hence, its success. The forms of governments or methods of election to power matter less in front of a basic realization on the laid down vision for the country. Frequent upheavals in the political arena cause turbulence and unrest among the stakeholders, resulting in either discontinuity of the programme or decreased moral support/funding for the same.

Political Will of Stakeholders

The stakeholders in any nationwide project’s successful implementation are the government, the funding institutions, the public, NGOs and private participators. Success largely depends on the well oiled progress between all these stakeholders towards a common goal. Even a small mismatch between them on compatibility, in their interests, would seriously hamper final achievement by delaying the process and/or the realization targets.

Public Flexibility

When consensus from the policy makers has reached the public, the major stakeholder, an evaluation process begins. It could be any form of a social organization like a community, a town or a cooperative. When the policy directives are such that it conveys the evaluator that his/her social organization will benefit more on measurable counts in comparison with existing situation, the public accepts the directives and involves themselves in the project. It is observed that if the benefit on the longer run is greater, then small hardships are accepted at the current instance. Acceptance notwithstanding, the flexibility shown by the public after evaluation may vary with different social setups, with respect to their existing comfort levels, social values and ethos and culture.

Existence of Adaptation Mechanism

Success of the implementation greatly rests on proper identification of areas to invest which is invariably related to the existing knowledge and adaptation mechanisms in the country. It is much easier to implement a course correction for a country which is traditionally cropping corn with lesser benefit to sugarcane cultivation with higher benefits, rather than to change it to an orientation with ITES industry.

I.B. Saravanan, Consulting Editor,
Icfai Research Centre, Chennai