Health Policy in Nepal: The Role of Community Health Workers
This event is co-sponsored by Shorenstein APARC's Asia Health Policy Program and the Center for South Asia
In this colloquium, Dr. Panday will first provide a brief overview of population health in Nepal and the country’s healthcare system. She will then discuss her research on community health, primary healthcare, and improving the health status of women and children in Nepal, focusing on the role of female community health volunteers in maternal health care provision. Using participatory approaches (such as participatory video methods and policy workshops), the research team connected communities with policymakers, and is building upon that approach—in partnership with the local organisation PHASE Nepal—to improve utilisation of healthcare among marginalised populations in rural Nepal.
Sarita Panday
Sarita Panday joined the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as the 2018-19 Developing Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow. 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 examined 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. 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.
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