Relevant technical and geographical experience.

Well Experienced in technical and social programmes. Academic Education, Formal School Education, Socio Economic Surveys, Relief and Rehabilitation and Implementing of Social forestry, health Programmes, agriculture development and animal husbandry and skills development.

Pulicat – Brackish water Coastal area- Fisherfolk and Schedule castes
Ponneri – Agriculture region -Landless – Schedule castes. (Dalits)
Muttukadu – Urbanization –mixed people parallel to IT corridor.
Yercaud - Hills region – Schedule tribes’ , deforestation, tourism area.
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh - Research on Informal Providers
Tehri Gharhwal, Uttarakhand - Research on Informal Providers
Sittilingi, Thirupathur, Tamil Nadum - Field test of mobile application for frontline health workers.

Our Projects

A Study of Informal Private Providers in District Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and District Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, India.

Evidence suggests that in most parts of the country, rural communities seek healthcare at first contact not from qualified doctors but from non-formally trained practitioners who are their nearest available providers

First we go to the small docto...,.published Nov 20, 2011 in the Indian Journal of Medical Research

We implemented a multi-district study on village based informal private providers in India. Our study locations included 9 blocks in district Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and 9 blocks in district Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. The study was part of a multi country initiative of the Results for Development Institute, Washington DC to learn more about the dynamics of informal providers and how informal markets function in South Asia and Africa. Our study report will be available soon on this website. The table below outlines the study objectives, research questions, and methods.

The table below outlines the study objectives, research questions, and methods.


Training of the field team	An RMP on a Home Visit

Informal provider attending a patient at their home	Interviewing an RMP in his clinic



Objectives	Research Questions	Methods and Data Sources
1. To map the physical locations of RHPs as well as formal providers in the selected areas in order to inform the development of future ‘hub and spoke’ linkages.	1.a. What is the spatial spread of informal RHPs and formal providers per population unit in different settings? 1.b. What is the relationship between informal RHPs’ and formal providers’ density at the different sites? Are there more RHPs where there are less formal providers or vice versa, and across the different settings?	Provider identification through key village contacts and snowballing technique. Enumeration of providers in market places. Provider questionnaire for interviewing all surveyed providers.
2. To explore and describe the nature and quality of encounters and relationships between RHPs and the formal health system.	2.a. Which components of the formal health system (public and private) do RHPs most frequently encounter and for what purpose? For example, where do they usually refer? Where do they access new knowledge? What are their perceptions and attitudes towards public and private health services and providers?	In-depth interviews with a random sample of the mapped RHPs
3. To look for correlations between illnesses that people report most frequently and those that RHPs treat most frequently.	3.a. What are the most common illnesses that RHP treat? How do these relate with local perceptions of disease and care seeking for these. What is the estimated proportion of the disease burden that RHPs encounter and manage at first contact?	Free listing and/or FGDs with community members In-depth interviews with a random sample of RHPs
4. To determine RHPs’ levels of education and training, and present knowledge and skills; identify differences/similarities across different providers and factors associated with these differences/similarities?	4.a. Are the RHPs a homogenous or a heterogenous group with respect to their backgrounds and knowledge and skills levels? What are RHPs knowledge and skills with respect to the majority of conditions that people report and those that RHPs treat? Are there finer provider differences with respect to education/training and knowledge and skills? What are the factors associated with differences between knowledge and skills?	Interviews with RHPs – with a knowledge assessment section Observations of patient – provider interactions over 2 days at each clinic of randomly sampled RHPs, using an observation tool that focuses on management of selected conditions (selected based on preliminary findings) such as fevers or respiratory problems.
5. To observe and describe key provider characteristics including physical set up, mobility, practice characteristics, and economics of service delivery.	5.a. How adequate are provider clinics? What proportion of providers are clinic based and what proportion deliver only mobile care? How much do they charge and how are costs determined? 5.b. What are the patient loads and size of catchment populations? How does this vary across different settings? What are the socio economic levels of patients that come to RHPs for treatment?	In-depth interviews and facility assessments of a random sample of RHPs. In-depth interviews with a random sample of RHPs and exit interviews with their patients.
6. To determine perceptions and attitudes related to formal certification and long term training and towards standardized but regulated service delivery.	6.a. What are RHPs’ perceptions, attitudes and dilemmas about integration with the mainstream health system and its consequent implications with respect to standardized training and service delivery? 6.b. What do they view as the greatest incentives and disincentives?	In-depth interviews with a random sample of RHPs.
7. To identify RHPs strengths and weaknesses, for advocacy and for guiding the strategy development.	7.a. What are RHPs’ major strengths and weaknesses in relation to a multi dimensional framework of quality – behavioral, technical (clinical skills and patient safety), structural (accessibility and availability)?	Analysis of all provider data above. Exit interviews with patients at clinics. Observations of patient provider encounters with a random sample of RHPs, including a small number of ethnographic style observations to highlight aspects of the quality of RHPs interactions with patients.
8. To analyse barriers and facilitating factors in the process of integrating RHPs through the BRHC course or a physician assistant model.	8.a. What are provider related, user related, medical establishment related, and government or policy related barriers and facilitating factors for integration of RHPs?	In-depth interviews with a random sample of RHPs. FGDs with community members KIIs with members of different professional associations and pharmaceutical industry representatives. KIIs with government officials.