Numerical narratives and documentary practices - Vaccines, targets and reports of immunisation programme

The documentary practices of target-setting, reporting, evaluation and supe rvision at the level of the district and the primary health centres are bui lt around a bureaucratic organisation. of information and allow for the pro duction of 'numerical narratives' to fulfil the needs of the bureaucratic i magination of a successful public health programme wherein the record gains primacy over the event. Front-dine health workers, ANMs are the focus of t he analysis here, as they constantly negotiate between the health bureaucra cy and the communities (local bureaucracies). This article demonstrates how programmatic goals are mediated by local contexts through these health wor kers, and how their perceptions and practices produce numerical narratives which meet the demands of rule and record bound bureaucratic imagination.