Sarita Panday has been selected as the 2017-18 Developing Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). She will join the center’s Asia Health Policy Program as it marks its 10th anniversary later this year.

 

“We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Panday as our first fellow from Nepal and in this important anniversary year,” said Karen Eggleston, director of the program and senior fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. “Sarita also represents the first fellow from South Asia and the fourth fellow since we began our collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.”

 

“I am extremely honored and grateful to be awarded this prestigious fellowship and am very much looking forward to joining the Asia Health Policy Program,” said Panday. “I believe this fellowship will enable me to develop essential skills so that I can work towards helping some of the neediest women in South Asia.”

 

Panday completed her doctorate at the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield, which explores the role of female community health volunteers in maternal health service provision in Nepal. Her research interests include health service delivery, primary healthcare and human resources for health and global health.

 

During her fellowship at Shorenstein APARC, Panday will examine the relationship between payment and performance of community health workers in South Asia. She will also recommend strategies for systems that incentivize workers to contribute to healthcare improvement in resource-poor communities.

 

Supported by the Asia-Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (APO), the fellowship brings emerging scholars to Stanford to conduct research on contemporary health and healthcare in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly developing countries. The fellow gains access to resources at Shorenstein APARC as well as an APO network of researchers and institutions that spans the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Panday completed a Masters in Public Health and Health Management from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Besides research, she has worked in various parts of Nepal, including in remote conflict-laden areas.