Project on Health, Nutrition and Public Policies in West Bengal and Assam

   One of the areas where the IDSK plans to conduct research programmes is health and society. With this objective the Institute organised a national seminar on Public health and medicine cheap cigarettes on October 2003 and the volume emerging out of that seminar is going to be published by Tulika. In the beginning of 2004, with the help of eminent experts such as Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis, Senior Fellow of IDSK and Professor Amitava Sen, a specialist on Child Health and Neonatology, the IDSK launched a research programme on Health, nutrition and public policies in West Bengal and Assam. Under this programme proposals are invited to concerned specialists and activists for research on urgent issues in health policy and health situation. Nine studies have already been completed under this programme and they have been intensively discussed in the workshop held on 18 September, 2004.

Besides the paper-writers, most of whom have been active in campaigning for better healthcare for women and children, Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis, and Professor Amitava Sen, participated in the workshop. Dr Krishna Soman and Professor Amiya Kumar Bagchi, and several other members of the IDSK faculty took an active part in the discussion.The subjects of the papers presented are listed below :

Dr. Dhiraj Bandopadhyay presented a paper setting out a macro picture of West Bengal in respect of supply and utilization of public health facilities.

Ms. Rajashri Dasgupta has written a paper on the recent changes in health policy and their problems.

Ms. Jharna Panda presented a paper on the socio-economic aspects behind the acceptance of, and resistance against polio vaccination.

Mrs. Krishna Banerjee discussed, with concrete case studies, the role of self-help groups and voluntary organizations in promoting health, especially among women and children.

Mrs. Krishna Roy in her paper focussed on the problems faced by women even when medical termination of pregnancy has been declared as a legal procedure.

Shri Chittapriyo Sadhu has written a paper on 'Analytical documentation of the success stories and best practices of the civil society organizations in public health care'.

Ms. Maitri Chakraborti and Dr. Durga Surekha focussed on the health conditions of sex workers in Kolkata.

Shri Samiran Bisai in a detailed anthropometric study, tabulated and analyzed data relating to the health of mothers and newborn babies on Bengali Hindu women.

Finally Ms. Swati Bhattacharjee made a detailed analysis of reports on health published in Bengali and English newspapers of Kolkata.