This book explores how social discrimination in South Asia contributes to health disparities and impedes well-being. Specifically, it addresses how marginalization shapes health outcomes, both under normal circumstances and specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming from diverse backgrounds and representing different academic disciplines, the authors have contributed a range of chapters drawing from quantitative and ethnographic material across South Asia. Chapters address reservation politics, tribal lifeways, Dalit exclusions from governmental institutions, Muslim ghettoization, gendered domestic violence, social determinants of health among migrant workers, and the pandemic fallout across South Asian society, among other subjects. Scholars draw on decades of experience and firsthand ethnographic fieldwork among affected communities. The chapters provide an innovative analysis, often in real time, of the human toll of casteism, classism, patriarchy, and religious intolerance-many set against the spectre of COVID-19. Many authors not only present social critiques but also offer specific policy recommendations. The book is of great interest to social scientists, public health practitioners, and policy advocates interested in addressing systemic inequalities and ensuring that future pandemics are not disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable.

Autorentext
Sanghmitra S Acharya is Professor in the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was Director, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi (201518), and Chairperson of the Centre (2018-2020). She was Visiting Fellow at CASS, China (2012); Ball State University, USA (2008-09), and UPPI, Manila, The Philippines (2005); East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii (2003), and University of Botswana (1995-96). She has been awarded fellowships and grants by UNFPA, Asian Scholarship Foundation, USEFI, ICSSR-CASS and SICI. She has authored books and articles on health and discrimination. Her books include 'Social Discrimination in Health Care Access among Dalit Children- Exploring Inclusive Environment. Academic Publications; 'Marginalization in Globalizing DelhiIssues of Land, Labour and Health'; and 'Health, Safety and Well-Being of Workers in the Informal Sector in IndiaLessons for Emerging Economies', both published by Springer. Sustainable Health in the times of COVID, and Sustainable Sanitation and Swachh Bharat- What we owe to the Cleaning Brigade both are under consideration by Aakar and Academic Publications.

Stephen Christopher completed a Ph.D. in anthropology from Syracuse University in 2018, specializing in Himalayan tribal ethnicity and refugee politics. In 2019, he was JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow at Kyoto University. From 202224, he is a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen. He is the Himalayas Editor at the Database of Religious History at the University of British Columbia. He has taught at Beijing Normal University, Vietnam National University, University of Bremen, Pitt in the Himalayas, Syracuse University, Semester at Sea and Tokyo Metropolitan University. 

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Casteism and infection control in government hospitalsExceptional Aryans: State Misrecognition of Himachali Dalits
Mising Nutrition and the Quest for 6th Scheduled Tribal Status in Assam 
A Drunk Fela in A Dry State: Extrajudicial Vernaculars of Care and Punishment in Postcolonial Mizoram
Public and Private Health Sector Disparities- Reflections from COVID-19 experiences in India
Disability, Access to food and Covid-19: An intersectional analysis
Inequality in Access to Healthcare for Patients and Persons with Disability During Covid-19 in Bangladesh
Knowledge Accumulation during Covid-19 Pandemic: Increasing Digital Divide and vulnerability among the students in India 
How do pandemics affect frontline interventions of national health programmes in India? Insights from National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme in Bangalore, India
PANDEMIC AND THE TEA GARDEN WORKERS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY IN JORHAT, ASSAM
Migrant Households: Enduring the COVID-19 Wrath
Sanitation Workers- Persisting Historical Exclusion in COVID Times
Loss of Inclusivity Quotient in  State's Response to COVID19: Paradox of Health in India  
Uncertainty and Covid-19: An anthropological study of the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the Ho community from West Singbhum, Jharkhand
Critically analyzing maternal health inequities from caste lenses during COVID-19 pandemic in India
Addressing Health Inequalities, Inequities and Vulnerabilities faced by India's Northeastern Region during COVID 19