Lifesaving Interventions: The Power of Local Health Care Workers on the Global Scale

Description

Abhay Bang (MPH '84), cofounder of the Society for Education, Action and Research on Community Health with his wife, Rani Bang (MPH '84), will give a talk titled "Lifesaving Interventions: The Power of Local Health Care Workers on the Global Scale" as part of the Bloomberg School of Public Health Spotlight Series.

In 1986, Abhay and Rani Bang traveled to a remote area in the state of Maharashtra in India to work on reducing child mortality. At the time, they measured 121 infant deaths in every 1,000 children born. Many factors contributed to the high rate of child mortality in the region, but pneumonia and newborn deaths were consistently the top two one causes of death in children. Over the next 15 years, Abhay and Rani Bang created two health care interventions to address death by pneumonia in children under 5 and newborn deaths in the region. Both studies utilized the influence of community health workers. Join Abhay Bang as he discusses the creation of these two interventions, the subsequent creation of a national program in India, and their impact on the global health landscape.

About Abhay and Rani Bang

After receiving their MPH degrees from the Bloomberg School in 1984, the Bangs founded the Society for Education, Action and Research on Community Health, or SEARCH, an organization working in the remote and tribal district of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra State, India. During their careers, the Bangs have helped foster a renaissance in community-based primary health care. Thanks in part to their efforts, community-based primary health care is now entering into the mainstream of global health and is now considered essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals for health. Over the years the Bangs have received seventy awards and honors. In 2005, Time magazine named them Global Health Heroes. In 2006, they received the MacArthur Foundation International Award for creative social work. They were the first recipient of the Johns Hopkins International Alumni Award (2013).