Tagged: india

  • December 19, 2014

    A warm welcome in Mumbai

    Written by
    Lisa Johnson, Associate Director of Workforce Programs, National Institute for Work and Learning, FHI 360

    It was 100 degrees outside when we pulled up in front a school in Mumbai last month. We were greeted by the sounds of booming drums, singing voices and ringing tambourines. The children were assembled outside of the school to welcome us. Before arriving, I was curious about how these children would receive us, but all doubts slipped away as they met us with open arms. The memory of that welcome continues to humble and inspire me in my travels to similar schools around the globe. Fifty students from two Mumbai schools were selected to participate in the three-year Johnson & Johnson Bridge to Employment (BTE) program designed to provide academic support, encourage lifelong learning and build awareness of careers in health care. BTE also works with parents, teachers and employees to support and guide students to new opportunities.

    According to 2012 data, only 58 percent of students from municipal areas graduate, leaving 42 out of every 100 young people without a high school diploma. For more than 20 years, BTE has been focusing on impacting communities all around the world with similar statistics.

    We’ve trained over 20 Johnson & Johnson employees, who serve as volunteers to mentor these 50 children, ages 13–16. BTE volunteers here in India and in all programs around the globe talk to their mentees about life and what it took to reach their own career goals and why civic engagement matters. Mentors teach students time management as well as resume writing, interviewing, teamwork and communication skills.

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  • November 12, 2014

    A private-sector intervention addresses leading cause of child mortality

    An Interview with
    Saikat Mukhopadhyay
    How has DAZT’s partnership with the private sector led to better health outcomes in maternal and child health?

    In India, it is important to reach patients through the private sector. At the onset of the project, we conducted a survey that showed that only approximately 67 percent of the people afflicted with diarrhea sought medical treatment, and of this population, more than 80 percent went to a private practitioner. Moreover, in rural and impoverished areas there is a lack of formal medical facilities for those seeking care and treatment for diseases such as diarrhea.

    We are trying to ensure that rural populations receive the best treatment for diarrhea. In order to do that, we must reach the private, rural medical providers (RMPs) who are providing the majority of patient care, especially at the bottom of the economic pyramid. RMPs are not formal doctors, but follow doctors’ patterns for prescribing medicine. They frequently do not have up-to-date information on the most effective ways to treat diarrhea in children. They often prescribe only antibiotics and antidiarrheals, which can be harmful.

    To change this, we started by encouraging formal doctors to prescribe zinc and ORS. We then worked with RMPs to change their prescribing behavior.

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  • July 23, 2014

    Improving HIV testing in targeted populations in India

    Written by
    Bitra George, Country Director, India, FHI 360

    At the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) in Melbourne, Australia, staff from FHI 360’s India office will present a poster on a study that shows improved HIV testing among clients of female sex workers. The study contributes to evidence about what works to strengthen HIV prevention.

    Why focus research on the clients of female sex workers?

    Recent studies from India suggest that the purchase of sex from female sex workers is most predominant in higher HIV-prevalence states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. In India, there is a growing recognition of the importance of considering clients when looking to stop HIV transmission, and a number of prevention efforts under the national program have targeted these clients, most of whom are men.

    Conducting surveys among clients of sex workers is challenging, because clients do not like to be identified. There is also little evidence that establishes clients’ risk of contracting HIV in India. To bridge this gap and to provide invaluable information on HIV trends and risk behavior, FHI 360 designed and managed the largest integrated biological and behavioral assessment (IBBA) for most-at-risk populations in India.

    Collecting evidence to inform HIV programming

    Conducted in 2006 and 2009, this cross-sectional survey interviewed approximately 10,000 clients of sex workers as part of Avahan (the India AIDS initiative). This program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, gathered evidence to inform future HIV prevention programs in India. The IBBA survey was implemented by the institutes of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and technical support was provided by FHI 360.

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  • December 20, 2012

    New Video Highlights Benefits of Family Planning to Microfinance Clients in India

    Written by
    Sharmistha Basu, Senior Technical Specialist, Research, FHI 360
    Eva Canoutas, Associate Director, Research Utilization, FHI 360
    Rick Homan, Scientist, FHI 360

    FPquoteImagine millions of women who want to limit their family size or space their next birth, but can’t because they lack access to family planning. Imagine that many of these women have no knowledge of family planning at all. Hard to imagine after decades of national and global investments in health? This is the reality for many families around the world, particularly in developing countries, where approximately 222 million women have an unmet need for family planning.

    Innovative approaches to reach people with family planning information and services are critical. Under FHI 360’s PROGRESS (Program Research for Strengthening Services) project —a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to improve family planning services among underserved populations in developing countries — a key strategy is to move beyond the health sector to reach women and men of reproductive age who need family planning but might not otherwise have access to it. As non-health development programs reach a large proportion of the world’s poor, PROGRESS builds on these networks to bring family planning information and services to communities. Family planning has been shown to contribute to the broader development goals of poverty reduction, enhanced education, environmental sustainability and gender equality, and therefore fits well with the goals of non-health development programs. Currently, PROGRESS supports several intervention-based studies on integrating family planning into non-health programs such as agriculture, environment and microfinance.

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  • December 11, 2012

    Addressing Human Development Issues Requires Innovation

    Bitra George, India Country Director at FHI 360, discusses the role of innovation in human development.