Amitabha Sarkar

I am a Public Health academic and practitioner. My research and work are instrumental in the field of public health, epidemiology, international development and human rights to design, plan and implement health systems to withstand ecological, social, political and economic predicaments. I am trained in social epidemiology, and broadly follow the methods of systems thinking and design science to strategise solutions for the problems concerned of contemporary global public health. 

I did my PhD in Public Health from the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). It was on the policy processes of World Bank’s investments in health systems since 1975 and the evolving mechanisms of development assistance (available at the World Bank Group Library in Washington, 2020; pp. XVII + 494). During the course of COVID-19 pandemic, I worked with the Department of Global Health in Peking University as a China India Visiting Scholar to prepare the South Asia Public Health Preparedness Action Plan. I was a recipient of the Swiss Government Excellence Fellow in the field of Global Public Health for the year of 2022 – 2023 at the Global Health Centre in the Geneva Graduate Institute (The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies). For the past seventeen years, I have been working with various community collectives, INGOs, government departments, UN agencies and policy think tanks (including the Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India, Plan International, UNESCO and OXFAM International, amongst others) to develop and strengthen monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment frameworks for programme intervention and policy cycles mapping.     

I am also a Research Fellow at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva. Amongst my other roles, I also hold the position of honorary Research Associate at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in the Geneva Graduate Institute, and participate in several UN, bilateral and regional inter-governmental expert and public committees.  

My pedagogical perspective, research understanding, and practitioner’s worldview are articulated in this piece “Merit, Meritocracy, and Decolonising Knowledge for Development”, and continue to shape my engagement with global health and development.

At Tampere University, I am currently working on the two international endeavours (i.e. the Pandemic Agreement negotiation and International Health Regulations amendment) to develop public health strategies for institutional capacity and community systems strengthening for the Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention, Response and Recovery architect. I also offer teaching courses on Strategic Health Policy (in autumn) and Global Health Methods (in spring). 

 PUBLICATIONS (reverse chronological order)

Priya, R., Das, S., Kuriakose, L. M., Shukla, M., Sarkar, A., Dumka, N., Hannah, E., Basheer, N., & Kotwal, A. (2005). The Dialogic Health Systems Research Framework (DHSRF): A tool for facilitating self-criticality, researcher interactions and knowledge management in health systems research & policy studies. PLOS Global Public Health. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004209  

Sarkar, A. (2025). Applying social sciences to study health inequalities: Dialoguing across disciplines. In N. Barman, P. Morang, & B. Deka (Eds.), Sustainable development: A multidisciplinary way forward (Chapter 32). Purbayon Publication.

Sarkar, A. (Lead Author: 2024). G20-World Health Organization Policy Note on Social Determinants of Health. October 2024. World Health Organization / G20 Joint Finance and Health Task Force. https://www.gov.br/g20/pt-br/trilhas/trilha-de-financas/financas-saude/5-g20-who-policy-note-on-social-determinants-of-health.pdf/@@download/file

Sarkar A (2024). Karnataka: The journey from enlightened modernity to reformed development, in an edited volume on ‘Governance and Development in Karnataka by Anil Kumar and Jeevan Kumar. Writers Choice; New Delhi, India. (the chapter is on the context analysis of health systems intervention)

Bauernfeind, A., Reid, J., Mccallum, A., Sheek-Hussein, M., Magid, A., Lopes, H., Cunningham, C., Green, M. S., Koivusalo, M., Sarkar, A., Middleton, J., & Davidovitch, N. (2024). No time to lose: Pandemic agreement-Urgency over complacency; unity over fragmentation. The International journal of health planning and management, 39(6), 1810–1818. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3847

Chakraborty G, Roy Chowdhury S & Sarkar A (2024) Recasting Citizenship: Predispositions to Non-Citizenship in South Asia. AHCD Working Paper No. 3, June 2024. Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, the Geneva Graduate Institute; Geneva, Switzerland. (Link)

Sarkar A & Koivusalo M (2023). One Health and Sustainable Development: A Roadmap for Development Finance. Development. (http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41301-023-00392-1)

Sarkar A, Ghosh D & Das A (2023). One Health for Sustainable Development: An Eco-Social Design for a Climate Resilient Health Systems in the Sundarbans of Bay of Bengal. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Working Series. (https://cdn.unrisd.org/assets/library/papers/pdf-files/2023/dcp-sarkar-et-al_draft-paper_clean.pdf)

Priya R, Sarkar A (corresponding author), Das S, Gaitonde R, Ghodajkar P, and Gandhi P M (2023). Questioning Global Health in the Times of COVID-19: Re-imagining Primary Health Care through the lens of Politics of Knowledge. Nature’s Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-023-01741-8) 

Simon, D., Gómez, O. A., Gasper, D., Bennett, K., Washbourne, C., Abasli, I., Mukhtarov, F., Dias, S., & Sarkar, A. (2023). Global social challenges for development studies in the Crisis in the Anthropocene. Global Social Challenges Journal, 2(2), 229-246. Retrieved Jul 7, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2023D000000004

Sarkar, A. (2023). The World Bank and Health Systems: A Policy Process Analysis. Population Medicine, 5(Supplement), A998. https://doi.org/10.18332/popmed/164564

Priya R, Porter J, Payyappallimana U, Sarkar A, Das S, Kuriakose L M (2023). Universalising Health Coverage or Crisis? Contours of the Challenges and Solutions. T20 Policy Brief (https://t20ind.org/research/universalising-health-coverage-or-crisis-contours-of-the-challenges-and-solutions/) 

Taneja A & Sarkar A (equal authorship) (2023): Tracking International Finance Corporation in India’s Private Health Care Provisioning; New York, OXFAM International. (https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/first-do-no-harm-examining-impact-ifcs-support-private-healthcare-india)

Priya R, Sarkar A, Abraham L, Kesharvani P, Unnikrishnan, P (2021). COVID-19: Urban Middle Class Survey Highlights Need for People’s Agency in Policy Making, in The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Chennai, India (link)

Sarkar, A., Liu, G., Jin, Y., Xie, Z., & Zheng, Z. J. (2020). Public health preparedness and responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in South Asia: a situation and policy analysis. Global Health Journal, 4(4), 121–132. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glohj.2020.11.003)

Priya R, Gaitonde R, Ghodajkar P, Sarkar A, Gandhi M, Das S (2019). Three-article series, on behalf of the JNU PHC Version 2.0 Study Group, on ‘Primary Health Care to Strengthen Health System’, published in Medico Friend Circle Bulletin (Vol. 380, February 2019) (link)

Sarkar, A (2018). World Bank’s Reformed Model of Development in Karnataka, in Institute for Social and Economic Change (Working paper No. 408, April 2018) (link) 

Sarkar, A, Ghosh S (2017). Filling and refilling – the melancholy of malaria since independence in India, Journal of the Indian Medical Association (Vol. – 115, No. 6, June 2017, ISSN: 0019-5847) 

Sarkar, A (2016). Methodological Critique from an Epidemiological Perspective on ‘Transitions in Health Financing and Policies for Universal Health Coverage’, Commentary in Indian Journal of Hygiene and Public Health, Vol. - 2, December 2016, ISSN: 2455-1813) (link)

Sarkar, A (2016). The World Bank and health systems strengthening: experiences from four Indian states, EPHP conference abstract in BMJ Global Health (vol. 1 no. Suppl 1 A30-A31), (link)

Sarkar, A (2016). Understanding Hunger and Mortality through Social Epidemiology, Medical Anthropology and Bioethics (Vol. - 2, Issue - 12, 2016, El No. FS77-39035). (In English ; in Russian)

Sarkar, A & Ghosh, S (2015). Socio-cultural Dimensions of Health Seeking Behaviour- A Community Perspective, SURVEY, Vol.-55, Issue: 1-2, ISSN 2224-9680, June, 2015: Kolkata

Chakravarti, V & Sarkar, A (2011). Community Managed Health System - an experience of success from South West Bengal, Journal of Social Work and Social Development, Vol.-2, Issue-1, June, 2011, by Department of Social Work, Visva Bharati University (ISSN 2229-6468). 

Sarkar, A. (2008). Assessment & Analysis of Cesarean Delivery: A Case Study of Bardhaman District, West Bengal, SURVEY, Vol.-48, Issue: 1-2, (ISSN 2224-9680)

PROJECT REPORTS (reverse chronological order)

Corporate Medicine: Mapping IFC in the field of private health care. This single-authored report was commissioned by Oxfam to conduct an independent expert review on the role of International Financing Institutes in private health care. The report was submitted to Oxfam, and subsequently got published as Oxfam report.

The Pandemic Agreement: A Springboard for Urgent Progress or a Safety Net for Basic Commitments? The briefing paper was published on behalf of The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) on the eve of the 77th World Health Assembly (27 May – 1 June, 24).  

Survey Report on the 'Health Seeking Behaviour and Experience of the Lockdown among the Indian Urban Middle Class in the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic', a 10-city survey in India. The full report is available on the site of Holistic Health Systems Research Network.

Unpublished Report: Research Report entitled “Two Decades of World Bank Aid in Karnataka: A Case Study of Health System Strengthening Policy Implementation” (February 2019). Submitted to Institute for Social and Economic Change, Karnataka, India.

OPINION PIECES (reverse chronological order)

From 1946 to now: WHO shows why health demands unity, UN Today Magazine, October Issue of 2025 (Link)

Solidarity Globalism: Reclaiming Multilateralism in Global Health, Geneva Solutions, September 15, 2025 (Link)

Heritage in Motion (on the need for climate friendly transports in the Global South cities), The Telegraph, September 13, 2025 (Link)

In Bengali: জনস্বাস্থ্য বনাম মুক্ত বাণিজ্য (Public health and free trade), Anandabazar Patrika, 8 September, 2025 (Link)

Reconciling trade ambitions with public health, Deccan Herald, September 9, 2025 (Link)

In Bengali: ব্যাক্তির শাস্তিতে কী হবে, যদি সমাজ না পাল্টায় (Rape culture is a public health problem: Analysis of R G Kar social movement), Ei Samay, 28 August, 2025 (Link)

Merit, Meritocracy, and Decolonising Knowledge for Development, European Association of Development Research & Training Institute, 26 August, 2025 (Link)

Model College to Model Society (higher education inequality and the role of rural colleges as social rural infrastructure), The Shillong Times, 21 November, 2024 (Link)

The World Health Assembly and the Imagined Citizens of the World, The Geneva Graduate Institute Newsletter, May 9, 2023 (Link)

In Bengali: তৃতীয় ঢেউ শেষ পর্যন্ত শাপে বর হয়ে উঠবে? (Public health planning at the time of Omicron surge during a pandemic, Ei Samay (Bengali edition of the Times of India), 14 January, 2022 (Link)

In Bengali: নগর পরিকল্পনা ও জনস্বাস্থ্য (Importance of public health in urban planning), Anandabazar Patrika, 14 December, 2021  (Link)

Immunity is liberty: Vaccine internationalism during a pandemic,  TNI (Transnational Institute) long read, June 16, 2021 (Link)

In Bengali: চিকিৎসা হাতের কাছে এলে আতঙ্কও কমবে (Advisory on emergency planning and long-term goal to combat COVID-19 in West Bengal, India), Ei Samay (Bengali edition of the Times of India), 7 May, 2021 (second author) (Link)

In Bengali: জনস্বাস্থ্য ছাড়া জননীতি হয় না (There is no public policy without public health), Anandabazar Patrika, April 29, 2021 (Link)

An unhealthy health budget, The Telegraph, February 23, 2021 (Link)

My struggle with COVID-19, The Indian Express, 24 July, 2020 (Link)

In Bengali: যত বেশি টেস্ট, ততই বাড়বে রোগমুক্তির আশা (epidemic preparedness and response management on COVID-19), Ei Samay (Bengali edition of the Times of India), 6 April, 2020 (Link)

In Bengali: কামান দেগে মশা মরে না কেন (Why mosquitoes won't die by mosquito fogging machine on Dengue endemic), Anandabazar Patrika, 16 December, 2019 (Link)

In Bengali: স্বাস্থ্যনীতির চিকিৎসা চাই (on India’s Health Budget of 2019 – 20), Anandabazar Patrika, March 12, 2019 (Link)

People over Profit: National Health Assembly, Deccan Herald, October 23, 2018 (Link)

Wealth is not health (on the distinctions between Alma-Ata and Ayushman Bharat), The Telegraph, October 1, 2018 (Link)

In Bengali: জনস্বাস্থ্য হোক রাজনৈতিক প্রশ্ন (Public Health should be of political question), Anandabazar Patrika, September 15, 2018 (second author) (Link)

Regulating Private Healthcare: What should Karnataka do?, Deccan Herald, June 6, 2017 (Link)

In Bengali: সদিচ্ছার প্রশ্ন, মতাদর্শের নয় (Health services provision is the matter of willingness, not ideology), Anandabazar Patrika, March 29, 2017 (Link)

Health first (on the National Health Policy 2017), The Telegraph, March 23, 2017 (Link)

Demonetisation logic not in sync with implementation plan, Deccan Herald, December 6, 2016 (Link)

BLOGS

Lost in negotiation: Re-positioning public health in the Pandemic Agreement, Alusta! (Blog of Tampere University), May 25, 24 (Link) (collaborative piece)

Can a global ‘vaccine citizenship’ help us move toward an inclusive pandemic-free space?, Bliss (blog of the International Institute of Social Studies on global development and social justice), July 15, 2021 (Link) 

In Bengali: বঞ্চনাকে জয়ের নাম ইস্টবেঙ্গল (Historical importance of East Bengal club and football in the context of Bengal partition, nationalism, refugee crises, and cultural evolution in pre and post-independence India), Guruchandali, August 1, 2020 (Link)  

In Bengali: করোনা কিন্তু সরকার ও সমাজেরও পরীক্ষা (Generating public debate on COVID-19 testing issue in West Bengal, India), Guruchandali, May 31, 2020 (Link)