ABSTRACT
Within academic circles and in practice, the term 'primary care' is considered synonymous with 'public health' in India. Disease-focused vertical programmes have remained the mainstay of primary care delivery in this, the second most populous country in the world. In spite of the best of intentions, these departments have not evolved to their fullest potential, and their role has been limited to medical public health, as they are dominated by the medical profession. Recognition of a separate and distinct discipline of primary care, family medicine or general practice is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the absence of any distinct academic departments for primary care or family medicine, primary care research is underdeveloped in India. Within the public health domain, there has been a spurt of research activities in the last decade. The main areas of public health research are population-based surveys and health programme evaluations.
