Int J Health Serv
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India's urbanization, though precipitous, is undirected, random, and opportunistic, shaped more by pressures than by policies. This has resulted in inequitable access to health services and adverse health outcomes for the urban poor. Late 2013 saw the launch of India's National Urban Health Mission, a broad scheme aimed at prioritizing urban health in the country with an emphasis on the poor. ⋯ Even as recommendations were accepted, given the meager allocation for health in the country, only piecemeal implementation is underway. Thus, policy processes are often a dialectic involving shifts that a range of stakeholders may variably resist or embrace. The most important lesson, however, is that it is both feasible and desirable to engage directly with the community, implementers, and researchers and to negotiate and connect their knowledge in the crafting of public policy.