Track 1: Health Risk and Financing
Amid global disruptions in healthcare and development, managing health and financial risks is more urgent than ever. Over 930 million people worldwide spend more than 10% of their income on healthcare, pushing many into poverty. Strengthening health financing through risk pooling, insurance, and strategic purchasing, is essential to achieving universal health coverage. Effective risk financing enables systems to absorb shocks, while financial protection ensures access to care without catastrophic costs.
Sub-themes:
- Equity in health financing and risk protection
- Technology and health financing
- Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Financing Policies
- Gender and Health Financing
- Health Financing Reforms
- Universal Health Coverage and Insurance Accessibility
- Behavioural Economics in Health Insurance Choice
Track 2: Occupational Health
Occupational health is crucial for ensuring worker well-being, productivity, and economic sustainability. The economic burden of occupational diseases and injuries poses significant challenges, affecting both workers and industries. Effective policy analysis can drive interventions that enhance workplace safety, especially in the informal sector and among vulnerable groups. Strengthening occupational health frameworks contributes to sustainable development, mental well-being, and resilience in times of crisis.
Sub-themes:
- Economic Burden of Occupational Diseases and Injuries
- Policy Analysis in Occupational Health
- Occupational Health and Sustainable Development
- Mental Health in the Workplace
- Informal Sector and Occupational Health Financing
- Aging Workforce, Gender and Occupational Health
- Economic Resilience in Workplace Health during Pandemics
Track 3: Climate Change, Environmental Health and Governance
Climate change and environmental degradation pose significant health risks, affecting vulnerable populations disproportionately. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and pollution contribute to the spread of infectious diseases, respiratory issues, and mental health concerns. Environmental governance frameworks, such as DeGrowth, LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), Green Transition, and Green Recovery, aim to mitigate these impacts by promoting sustainable policies and responsible resource use. Addressing these challenges requires a multidimensional approach that integrates climate resilience, gender-sensitive health policies, and international collaboration to ensure equitable health outcomes.
Sub-themes:
- Climate Change, Energy Poverty, and Health Equity
- Environmental Governance and Public Health: Policy and Practice
- Green Transitions and Their Impact on Health Systems
- Health Risks of Air Pollution and Industrialization
- Climate Resilience and Community Health Adaptation
- Role of Global Institutions in Health and Environmental Governance
- Behavioural Responses to Climate-Induced Health Risks
Track 4: Health Behaviour and Cognition
Addressing the economic dimensions of health behaviour among the vulnerable population is imperative for creating resilient health systems and societies. This conference will serve as a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, driving forward evidence-based solutions to reduce the burden of health through strategies.
Sub-themes:
- Exploring Health Behaviours among the Ageing Population
- Health Behaviours and Women
- Health Behaviours and Non-communicable Diseases
- Cognitive Health
- Medical Humanities
Track 5: Gender, Health Inequities, and Care Injustice
This track explores the persistent gender inequalities in health and development, which hinder equitable well-being worldwide. Women and girls continue to face disparities in healthcare access, nutrition, reproductive rights, and economic opportunity, often resulting in poorer health outcomes. These are shaped by discriminatory social norms, unequal resource distribution, limited decision-making power, and gaps in financial protection, etc. The track also emphasizes the critical role of institutions in shaping reproductive health and child well-being, focusing on how socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors impact health across the life course. We invite contributions that examine structural determinants, propose gender-sensitive policy reforms, and highlight innovative strategies for improving healthcare access, quality with a focus on women and children.
Sub-themes:
- Gendered Disparities in Healthcare Access and Quality
- Gendered Burden of Non-Communicable and Communicable Diseases
- Gendered Violence and Well-being
- Reproductive Justice, Autonomy, and Quality Maternal and Child Health Care
- Climate Change and Gendered Health Outcomes
- Policy, Governance, and Gender-Sensitive Health Systems
Track 6: Perspectives on Aging, Health, and Wellness
Aging is a global challenge and increasingly shaped by worldwide disruptions like pandemics, climate change, and geopolitical instability with significant economic, social, and policy implications, requiring societies to reassess healthcare, legal rights, housing, and social services while promoting society's engagement and inclusivity. Medical advancements continue to redefine aging management, while social and cultural perspectives shape family roles, community support, and end-of-life care. On a personal level, aging brings shifts in relationships, independence, and living arrangements, necessitating adaptation and comprehensive support systems.
Sub-themes:
- Economic and Healthcare Demands for Older Adults
- Aging-Friendly Policies, Public Health, and Social Services
- Social Support, Networks, and ICT in Aging
- Nutrition, Disease Management, and Well-being in Older Adults
- Lifestyles, Quality of Life, and Aging Population Impact
Track 7: Efficiency, Productivity, and Performance in Healthcare
Healthcare systems face growing pressure to improve efficiency and productivity amid rising costs and healthcare demand driven by global disruptions. Measuring and optimizing resource use, financing mechanisms, and service delivery are essential for equitable and affordable healthcare access. This track emphasizes analytical methods, evidence-based methodology to improve decision making, fairness, and delivery of healthcare at different settings.
Sub-themes:
- Efficiency and Performance Measurement in Healthcare
- Efficiency and Productivity in Health Financing
- Healthcare Resource Allocation and Input-Output Optimization
- Productivity Change in Healthcare: Indices in Health
- Equity-Adjusted Efficiency Analysis in Healthcare Delivery
Track 8: Nutrition and Human Capital
Nutrition is a crucial maker of human capital. Early age nutrition plays a significant role in lifelong health, education, the labour market, and other socioeconomic outcomes. As we approach the final year of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016–2025, it is crucial to assess progress made and explore emerging nutritional challenges for policymakers in both developing and developed countries.
Sub-themes:
- Child (mal)nutrition in LMICs
- Nutrition transition
- Double burden of malnutrition
- Nutritional outcomes and human capital
- Political economy of health and nutrition
Track 9: Health System, Technological Disruptions and Governance
This track explores health system governance, IKS, policy reforms, and institutional frameworks, innovation (IPR) with a focus on health system responsiveness, equity, and digital transformation. We invite studies on ICT-enabled care, AYUSH, patient-centred strategies, and regulatory challenges to advance inclusive, accountable, and effective health systems amid global hindrance in growth and development.
Sub-themes:
- Health governance, policy and institutional frameworks for health system
- Health System Responsiveness
- Health literacy: Individual and organizational
- Institutions and Injustice in care and healing
- Healthcare and technological disruptions (ICT)
- Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
- Indian Knowledge System (IKS) and Indigenous Medicine
- Innovation and Property Rights in Health Care
Track 10: Development Disconnect: Education, Labour, and Informal Enterprises
This track examines how rapid disruptions in education, labour markets, migration flows, and social structures are reshaping global development, with a special focus on informal enterprises. Economic uncertainty, climate change, technological advancements, and the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened vulnerabilities, particularly for youth, informal workers, migrants, and marginalized communities. The track delves into the structural challenges and inequalities these disruptions create, with particular attention to the role of informal enterprises in shaping inclusive development.
Sub-themes:
- Labour Market Transformations, Informality, and Enterprises
- Education Disruptions and Human Capital Development
- Migration, Displacement, and Development Gaps
- Social Protection, Labour Rights, and Inequality
- Structural Inequality: Caste, Gender, Region, and Class in Development Outcomes
- Digital Humanities
- Regional Inequalities with a focus on Uttarakhand and North-East regions