The World Trade Organisation's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS] agreement aimed to harmonise intellectual property rights and patent protection globally. In India, the signing of this agreement resulted in a sharp increase in clinical trials since 2005. The Indian government,...

Clinical services offering amniocentesis to inform women of the sex of their foetuses have appeared in North India in the past 10 years. They fit into cultural patterns in which girls are devalued, and some authors have seen direct links between female infanticide (assumed to have been...

The production and consumption of allopathic medicines in less developed countries has far-reaching effects. In particular, the legitimization of allopathic medicine endows professional groups and sectors of industry with a special status, supports some patterns of healthcare, and neglects...

This paper uses a close reading of villagers' responses to the death in childbirth of a Muslim woman to raise questions about India's current policy emphasis on institutional delivery as a means of reducing maternal mortality. After introducing the context and methods of our research, we...