First National Conference on Bringing Evidence into Public Health Policy (EPHP 2010) Bangalore, India 10-11 December 2010 Author details1-Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad, ...IndiaEMPTY2-Indian Institute of Public Health, Bhubaneswar, IndiaEMPTY Supplemental Information: Meeting abstractsEMPTY Introduction In 2007, the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh introduced the Rajiv Aarogyasri community health insurance scheme (RAS) in order to break the vicious cycle of ill health, poverty, indebtedness and bankruptcy among families who are below the poverty line (BPL).