Training Birth Attendants in India

2021 ◽  
pp. 96-118
Author(s):  
Pascale Hancart Petitet

This chapter documents the local and global processes of construction, legitimization and delegitimization, and the political uses of the knowledge of traditional birth attendants—TBAs. Based on four years’ ethnographical investigation in Tamil Nadu, this chapter discusses the issue from various points of view. It looks at the debates of actors involved in the national and international public health agendas, Indian movements promoting ‘Natural Childbirth’, and movements in favour of the preservation of traditional systems of medicine. TBAs are variously perceived as wicked mothers whose archaic practices must be controlled, the archetypal ambassadors of traditional knowledge, or as relevant actors bringing together ideal elements of any development activity—locality, community, and low cost. This careful reading of the contemporary social representations of TBAs and of their role reconfigurations offers a lens to examine authoritative knowledge’s social forms, practices, and paradoxes.

What does innovation mean to and in India? What are the predominant areas of innovation for India, and under what situations do they succeed or fail? This book addresses these all-important questions arising within diverse Indian contexts: informal economy, low-cost settings, large business groups, entertainment and copyright-based industries, an evolving pharma sector, a poorly organized and appallingly underfunded public health system, social enterprises for the urban poor, and innovations for the millions. It explores the issues that promote and those that hinder the country’s rise as an innovation leader. The book’s balanced perspective on India’s promises and failings makes it a valuable addition for those who believe that India’s future banks heavily on its ability to leapfrog using innovation, as well as those sceptical of the Indian state’s belief in the potential of private enterprise and innovation. It also provides critical insights on innovation in general, the most important of which being the highly context-specific, context-driven character of the innovation project.


Author(s):  
Supriya Mukherjee

This chapter focuses on Indian historical writing. The end of colonial rule in 1947 was a turning point in Indian historical writing and culture. History emerged as a professional discipline with the establishment of new state-sponsored institutions of research and teaching. Attached to the institutionalization was the political imperative of a newly independent nation in search of a coherent and comprehensive historical narrative to support its nation-building efforts. At the same time, there was a desire to establish an autonomous Indian perspective, free of colonial constraints and distortions. In this, post-independence historiography owed much to earlier strands of nationalist historiography. During the first two decades after independence, three main trajectories of historical writing emerged: an official and largely secular nationalist historiography, a cultural nationalist historiography with strong religious overtones, and a critical Marxist trajectory based on analyses of social forms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Rinaldi ◽  
M P M Bekker

Abstract Background The political system is an important influencing factor for population health but is often neglected in the public health literature. This scoping review uses insights from political science to explore the possible public health consequences of the rise of populist radical right (PRR) parties in Europe, with welfare state policy as a proxy. The aim is to generate hypotheses about the relationship between the PRR, political systems and public health. Methods A literature search on PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar resulted in 110 original research articles addressing 1) the relationship between the political system and welfare state policy/population health outcomes or 2) the relationship between PRR parties and welfare state policy/population health outcomes in Europe. Results The influence of political parties on population health seems to be mediated by welfare state policies. Early symptoms point towards possible negative effects of the PRR on public health, by taking a welfare chauvinist position. Despite limited literature, there are preliminary indications that the effect of PRR parties on health and welfare policy depends on vote-seeking or office-seeking strategies and may be mediated by the political system in which they act. Compromises with coalition partners, electoral institutions and the type of healthcare system can either restrain or exacerbate the effects of the PRR policy agenda. EU laws and regulations can to some extent restrict the nativist policy agenda of PRR parties. Conclusions The relationship between the PRR and welfare state policy seems to be mediated by the political system, meaning that the public health consequences will differ by country. Considering the increased popularity of populist parties in Europe and the possibly harmful consequences for public health, there is a need for further research on the link between the PRR and public health.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 526
Author(s):  
James Ditai ◽  
Aisling Barry ◽  
Kathy Burgoine ◽  
Anthony K. Mbonye ◽  
Julius N. Wandabwa ◽  
...  

The initial bedside care of premature babies with an intact cord has been shown to reduce mortality; there is evidence that resuscitation of term babies with an intact cord may also improve outcomes. This process has been facilitated by the development of bedside resuscitation surfaces. These new devices are unaffordable, however, in most of sub-Saharan Africa, where 42% of the world’s 2.4 million annual newborn deaths occur. This paper describes the rationale and design of BabySaver, an innovative low-cost mobile resuscitation unit, which was developed iteratively over five years in a collaboration between the Sanyu Africa Research Institute (SAfRI) in Uganda and the University of Liverpool in the UK. The final BabySaver design comprises two compartments; a tray to provide a firm resuscitation surface, and a base to store resuscitation equipment. The design was formed while considering contextual factors, using the views of individual women from the community served by the local hospitals, medical staff, and skilled birth attendants in both Uganda and the UK.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Saumya Pandey

Introduction: Infertility is a global public health problem; cost-effective patient-friendly treatment modalities along with psychosexual intervention strategies are essential for infertility control/prevention/management among ethnically disparate populations. Objectives: This study aimed to assess differential in vitro fertilization (IVF) success trends among infertile women of South Indian ethnicity. Materials and Methods: Prospective, observational study designed in a hospital-based setting with active enrollment of infertile women undergoing IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at Indira IVF Center, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (April-September 2019); inclusion criteria: age >35 years, South Indian ethnicity, married >1 year, absence of full-term clinical pregnancy, endometrial thickness <6 mm/thin endometrium; exclusion criteria: prior ≥2 IVF failures, fibroids/adenomyosis/cervical cancer/endometriosis. IVF success was determined by evaluating total frozen embryos transferred/month, average oocyte yield/donor, oocyte quality, M-II oocytes, biochemical/clinical pregnancy (beta-human chorionic gonadotropin positivity/fetal cardiac activity). Mycobacterium tuberculosis positivity was assessed by GeneXpert polymerase chain reaction-based technology, and psychosexual intervention-incorporated marital relationship counseling sessions/therapy, referrals for psychiatric assessments (cognitive impairment/schizophrenia/depression). Written informed consent of participants was taken and study was approved by Institutional Review Board. Results: Mean age and endometrial thickness of study participants were 33.3 years (SD ±1.9) and 8.7 mm (SD ±0.5), respectively; average Body Mass Index (BMI) and anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) levels were 28.4 kg/m2 and 4.7 ng/mL, respectively. Embryos transferred/month: 7 in April/13 in May/24 in June/36 in July/24 in August/30 in September, and pregnancies: 4/8/17/26/20/22 for the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September 2019, respectively. Subgroup stratification demonstrated M-II vs total oocytes retrieved were 76%, 73%, 60%, 71%, 77%, and 77%. Overall IVF success rates were 57% in April/62% in May/71% in June/72% in July/83% in August/73% in September; frozen embryo transfer success was 0 in April-May/67% in June/73% in July/89% in August/100% in September 2019. English/Tamil-speaking infertile women self-reported treatment-related satisfaction rates of 80% to 100%. Conclusion: M-II oocytes’ yield, sociodemographics of infertile women, and increasing age/aberrant AMH/BMI profiles/endometrial receptivity/diminished ovarian reserve are promising predictors of IVF/ICSI success in genetically distinct patient population subset(s). Future multicentric gene epidemiology studies with larger sample size and precision-based psychiatric assessments/interventions are warranted for development of predictive biomarkers in infertility management.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-150
Author(s):  
Paul M Butler

Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, a Bostonian physician from the mid-19th century, lived a passionate life full of commitment and devotion to various noble causes – he was a champion of public health, an advocate for inclusion of women in medicine and a staunch abolitionist, all unpopular social perspectives at that time in medical and political history. Seemingly difficult personality traits including his stubbornness and moralistic outlook were likely ‘adaptive’ as he confronted the political reality of major institutional change. His interest in statistical trends and environmental influences and his inductive reasoning led to a deeper understanding of consumption (tuberculosis), the widespread diagnostic use of the stethoscope and thoracocentesis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trong T. Ao ◽  
Mahmudur Rahman ◽  
Farhana Haque ◽  
Apurba Chakraborty ◽  
M. Jahangir Hossain ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese C. Reitan

Determinants of political participation and electoral turnout are still of great interest within political science and three broad types of factors have been found to influence turnout significantly; individual or area-specific traits, characteristics of the electoral systems, and features relating to the political climate in individual elections. Within the first group, socio-economic resources, typically education, income, and occupation, have been found to be particularly important. This article proposes that public health is also a relevant form of social and political resources at the aggregate level. Regional data on life expectancy and electoral turnout from Russia—a country with dramatically deteriorated public health during the 1990s—were therefore correlated with each other. Overall, correlations were positive and significant, and there is, then, reason to investigate further the possible relationship between public health and the propensity to turn out at elections.


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