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Social science scholarship on cancer has been almost exclusively focused on Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, despite a significant epidemiological transition taking place in many non-OECD contexts, with cancer emerging as a prominent, and strongly feared, illness experience. With cancer gaining an increasingly high profile in India, there is an urgent need to explore how experiences of cancer may be socially and culturally embedded, and in turn, how localized practices may shape the therapeutic encounter. Here, drawing on interviews with 40 people living with cancer in Hyderabad, India, we focus on some specific components of their therapeutic journeys, including diagnostic and prognostic disclosure, collective versus individual decision making, the dynamics of medical authority, and the reception of cancer within their social milieu. These participants' accounts provide insight into a range of cultural sensibilities around illness and care, and reinforce the importance of understanding the cultural inflections of communication, decisions, and illness experiences.

Diabetes self-management is a complex phenomenon which refers to patients' attending checkups regularly and adhering to a physician-prescribed regimen including following a strict diet, exercise, self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), and medication. This review will unpack the facilitators and barriers for each of the recommended lifestyle change for improving diabetes management (i.e. the behaviors of diet, exercise, SMBG, and medication). Referred to as the “diabetes capital” of the world, the review will focus on diabetes self-management research and interventions in India, highlighting the dearth for appropriate evidence-based programs in the country. Finally, the review will discuss the scope for future research and practice within this field in the Indian context.

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