Health Communication in India Strategies and Digital Innovations

Section 1: Theoretical Frameworks and Policy Dimensions

1. Introduction to Health Communication in India – Shalini Narayanan and Sunetra Sen Narayan

2. Public Health in the Changing Media Scenario:  Implications for health communication policy - Ravindra Vemula

3. Health Communication Strategy Approaches: Insights from a practitioner - Sanjeev Kumar

Section 2: Communicating Health: Legacy Media, Challenges and Change
4. Unearthing and Amplifying Hidden Possibilities: Positive Deviations for Health and Wellbeing - Arvind Singhal

5. Health Journalism at a Crossroads - Abantika Ghosh

6. Public Service Broadcasting for Health: Television and Radio's significance in communicating health information in India - Sweta Singh

7. Tragedy and Resilience: A study on Hindi cinema’s caregivers and chronic health ailments - Gauri D Chakraborty

8. Effective Health Communication Strategies for Tuberculosis Prevention and Management - Ratika Samtani and Sutapa Bandopadhyay Neogi

9. Patient Navigation: An Innovation in Patient-Provider Communication in India - Nishu Singh Goel

10. Destigmatization of Leprosy: Participatory and other Approaches - Pradeep Krishnatray

11. Centre-staging behaviour change communication within health emergency management- Glimpses from COVID in India - Manisha Verma

Section 3: Digital Innovations and Emerging Challenges in Health Communication

12. Digital Health Communication: Enhancing Healthcare Outcomes - Saima Pervez

13. From Challenges to Solutions: Leveraging mobile technology in healthcare - Manjula Venkatraghavan

14. Navigating Health Misinformation: Strategies for Identification and Combating Misinformation - Anubhuti Yadav and Ravinder Yadav
15. Communicating Health in India: Harnessing the Power of Artificial Intelligence - Pawan Koundal

Biography

Shalini Narayanan, D. Phil. is a former Indian Information Service officer with over 35 years of experience in the media and communication sector of which two decades were with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. She has co-authored two significant titles: India Connected: Mapping the Impact of New Media (SAGE, 2016) and The WhatsApp India Story: Inside the Digital Maya Sphere (Routledge, 2024). Currently, she is serving as the course coordinator for the health communication module of the Master’s program in Patient Navigation at the Tata Memorial Centre.

Sunetra Sen Narayan, Ph.D, has over 35 years’ experience in communications. She was awarded a Doctorate in Mass Communications from the Pennsylvania State University, U.S.A. She is currently Professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communications where she serves as Head of the Department of Health Communications. She is the author of Globalisation and Television, a Study of the Indian Experience 1990-2010 (2014) Oxford University Press. She is the co-editor of India Connected: Mapping the Impact of New Media (2016) Sage Publications. She is the co-author of The WhatsApp India Story: Inside the Digital Maya Sphere (2024). Routledge.

'Accurate and effective health communication can be a powerful public health intervention. This book is a timely narrative of Indian media’s role in covering complex health issues in a rapidly changing and challenging world. This elegantly curated book draws on wide ranging media experience of several authors to explain why and how.'

-  Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Honorary Distinguished Professor at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).

 

'Health Communication has become more important, in the context of rapidly expanding social media, as well as mis- and dis-information. This excellent volume, edited by Professors Sunetra Sen Narayan and Shalini Narayanan addresses this need and can help the field of health communication, which is changing and evolving at a rapid pace.'

- Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Former Chief Scientist, World Health Organisation (WHO) and currently Chair, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)

 

'This timely and substantial volume fills a critical gap in the academic literature on health communication in India. The two editors, both accomplished scholars with extensive experience in development and digital media, have assembled an impressive collection of scholarly and practitioner voices that examine the field through the lenses of theory, policy, and practice.'

- Dr. Kanchan K. Malik, Professor, Department of Communication, and UNESCO Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad