For the Public Good

Patricia Antoniello

Description

For the Public Good details the role of the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), a groundbreaking, internationally recognized primary health care model that uses local solutions to solve intractable global health problems. Emphasizing equity and community participation, this grassroots approach recruits local women to be educated as village-based health workers. In turn, women village health workers collaborate to overcome the dominant double prejudices in local villages—caste and gender inequality.

In one generation, village health workers have progressed from child brides and sequestered wives to knowledgeable health practitioners, valued teachers, and community leaders. Through collective efforts, CRHP has reduced infant and maternal mortality, eliminated some endemic health problems, and advanced economic well-being in villages with women's cooperative lending groups.

This book describes how the recognition and elimination of embedded inequalities—in this case caste discrimination, gender subordination, and class injustice—promote health and well-being and collaboratively establish the public good.

Introduction
 
Chapter 1: Two Hundred and Fifty Miles East of Bombay
 
Chapter 2: The Endemic Problem of Caste and Gender Inequality
 
Chapter 3: Health is What Women Do: Transitions and Transformations
 
Chapter 4: “Why Are You Sitting at Home Being Oppressed?”: Becoming a Village Health Worker
 
Chapter 5: Women and Child Health: You Will Give Birth to a Beautiful Baby
 
Chapter 6: Money in Her Hand: Mahila Vikas Mandal
 
Chapter 7: Standing on My Own: Women and Equity
 
Conclusion: Local Solutions to Global Problems
 
Works Cited
Bibliography
Index
 

Sujets

• Health Issues
• Public Health
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Women
• Shudrá
• Chatria
• Brahmán (casta)
• Equity
• Comprehensive Rural Health Project
• CAB Direct (database)
• Canadian Register of Historic Places
• Jamkhed
• Mandal Commission
• Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
• Other Backward Class
• Shudra
• Ahmednagar
• Brahmin
• Ethnography
• Woman
• Third World
• Mumbai
• Disease
• Anthropology
• Caste
• Health
• The Women
• Third World (reggae)
• India
• Ahmadnagar
• Common law
• Maharashtra
• Bombay

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826500250
• Langue: English

Extrait

FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD
SERIES EDITORS: Svea Closser, Emily Mendenhall, Judith Justice, & Peter J. Brown
Policy to Practice: Ethnographic Perspectives on Global Health Systems illustrates and provides critical perspectives on how global health policy becomes practice, and how critical scholarship can itself inform global public health policy. Policy to Practice provides a venue for relevant work from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, political science, and critical public health.
For the Public Good
Women, Health, and Equity in Rural India
PATRICIA ANTONIELLO
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESS
Nashville, Tennessee
© 2020 by Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville, Tennessee 37235
All rights reserved
First printing 2020
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Antoniello, Patricia, 1946– author.
Title: For the public good : women, health, and equity in rural India / Patricia Antoniello.
Description: Nashville : Vanderbilt University Press, [2020] | Series: Policy to practice | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020007878 (print) | LCCN 2020007879 (ebook) | ISBN 9780826500243 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780826500236 (paperback) | ISBN 9780826500250 (epub) | ISBN 9780826500267 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Rural health services—India—Maharashtra. | Community health aides—India—Maharashtra. | Women’s health services—India—Maharashtra.
Classification: LCC RA771.7.I4 A58 2020 (print) | LCC RA771.7.I4 (ebook) | DDC 362.10954/79—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007878
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020007879
With love ( —Sine te nihil potest )
Sara, Ben, Alexander, and John
With respect
Dr. Shobha Arole and Ravi Arole and Mrs. Ratna Kamble
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
1 . Two Hundred and Fifty Miles East of Bombay
2 . The Endemic Problem of Caste and Gender Inequality
3 . Health Is What Women Do: Transitions and Transformations
4 . “Why Are You Sitting at Home Being Oppressed?”: Becoming a Village Health Worker
5 . Woman and Child Health: You Will Give Birth to a Beautiful Baby
6 . Money in Her Hand: Mahila Vikas Mandal
7 . Standing on My Own: Women and Equity
Conclusion: Local Solutions to Global Problems
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to an incalculable number of people both in India and at home for the support, kindness, and collaboration that made this book possible. As Muktabai said, one lamp lights another, reminding us that we stand in the history of others. My eternal gratitude to Dr. Raj Arole who was a truly dedicated, pious, and heroic physician and educator. He was at the same time dynamic and unassuming in his leadership of CRHP, his commitment to work for the poor, and his concern for a just health system for India, as his work on the National Rural Health Mission showed. Dr. Arole generously gave me his support for my research and spent time talking about India, health, anthropology, and caste. Our chats on winter nights in the garden around a wood fire are most memorable. His life and work have left an indelible mark as he is a true humanitarian.
Dr. Shobha Arole, medical director of CRHP, was a whirlwind of professional energy and commitment. In a typical day she would do rounds at the hospital, go with the mobile health team to do a village clinic visit, teach a class of VHWs, teach a group of students from an American or Australian college, and then, when called at 3:00 a.m., perform an emergency cesarean surgery—all accomplished effortlessly. Shobha became a colleague and friend as I negotiated my own education about India and CRHP. I traveled with Shobha to professional conferences in the US, where she gave insightful research papers on CRHP at the American Public Health Association annual meetings and Global Health conferences, and to the many talks she was invited to give in India. Our trip to foundations in Delhi to search for appropriate funds for continuing projects and programs was memorable. In the process I thoroughly enjoyed our daily meals and the always insightful and instructive conversations at her home, as well as our exploits away from Jamkhed travelling in India and the US.
Ravi Arole, in his own dynamic and inimitable way, has charted an amazing new course for CRHP. As the current director, he has provided a stable direction for the organization. In my early days of research he helped conceptualize parts of the project and found the time to translate some of the most enduring interviews. Ravi has worked with VHWs whom he has known his entire life. What is brilliant about Ravi is his ability to multitask endlessly, keeping everything afloat in his own charismatic way. I thank him for his support of my project and for his kindness and generosity.
Mrs. Ratna Kamble, colleague and friend, contributed countless hours of her precious time to this project as one of the primary translators of interviews and interactions. This book would not have become a reality without her care and generosity in accompanying me to villages, engaging in conversations with villagers, organizing village visits, and answering a prodigious number of questions. I especially enjoyed sharing roasted jowar at sorghum harvest. She has my unending gratitude. I would also like to thank Jayesh Samuel Kamble, a teacher and source of knowledge both academic and local for me and my students; Monica Kamble, who guides the Adolescent Girls Club; Meena Naidu Sansare, an exceptional preschool teacher who is always offering help and personal support; and Chris Vermeniren, who volunteers at the hospital to help those in desperate need. I would also like to thank my Elon University colleagues Amanda Tapler and Martin Kamela.
The entire adventure would not have been possible without Dr. Alex Kaysin, assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of Maryland. I met Alex at Brooklyn College when he was a first-year student in the newly initiated CUNY Honors College. He became my advisee and conducted a brilliant internship at SUNY Medical Center. As a medical student Alex was instrumental in starting a free clinic in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Alex decided to take a gap year between college and medical school was accepted to the Mabelle Arole Fellowship program in Jamkhed, India. It was because of Alex that I was first invited to CRHP and able to begin what became a ten-year ethnographic project. We have visited Jamkhed together many times and worked on various projects together. It has been my great pleasure to have had an amicable and enduring relationship with him. Through Alex I met vivacious Smisha Agarwal, a brilliant researcher and now an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who also conducted a project at CRHP. I thank them both for their kindness and friendship.
I am grateful for the women of CRHP for generously giving their time to me over the years of my research: Lalanbai Kadam, Yamunabai Kashinath Kulkarni, Babaibai Rambhau Dalvi, Halima Ratan Shaikh, Surekha Sadaphule, Rambhabai Sanap, Muktabai Pol, Rekha Bajirao Paudmal, Sakhubai Babasaheb Gite, Kantibai Devrao Shirsath, Sharada Thackrey, Baby Khandu Moholkar, Dwarkabai Nana Sawant, Kalpana Ashok Gaikwad, Disha Karvande, Sangeeta, Gite, Sarubai Sahebrao Salve, Sophia Abbas Pathan, Nanda Shankar Jadhav, Mangal Kishan Khawle, Saraswati Rama Dhawale, Pushpa Popat Sutar, Mumtaj Badshah Shaikh, Shalan Tukaram Lashkar, Padmini Sadashiv Lad, Parubai Maruti Chande, Babai Hari Sathe, Leelabai Rama Amte, Salubai Sadaphule, Sujata Balasaheb Khedkar, Bhamabai Kale, Mukta R. Gunjal, and Jijabai Dashrath Bangar.
I would also like to thank the educators and staff of CRHP: Surekha Sonawane (social worker and MHT); Shaila Deshpade; and of course Connie Gates, whose dedication to CRHP has been a life’s work; the Ajay Jadhave library staff who accompanied students to various World Heritage sites throughout India; office staff: Abel Desai, Abhay Jadhav, Amul Khetre, Atul Khetre, Atul Khetre, Daniel Bhanushali; hospital staff: Dr. Prashant Gaikwad, Dr. Elia Ghorpade, and Moses Gurram (jack of all trades); kitchen staff: Janabai Karle, Asha Garadkar, Kashibai, Kavita; and of course two women who are central to the everyday functioning of CRHP, Sultana Shaikh and Shhabai Kapse. Special thanks to Dr. Ramaswamy Premkumar permission and help with statistical analysis. And of course, Kaat Landuyt and Sister Sylvia who have given so much.
For their continuing good wishes and support I thank the anthropology department at Brooklyn College, all of whom I consider both colleagues and friends—a rarity in most academic departments—Arthur Bankoff, Kelly Britt, Shahrina Chowdhury, Stephen Chester, Meghan Ference, Katie Hejtmanek, Rhea Rhaman, and especially Naomi Schiller and Jillian Cavanaugh for running the show; our efficient department administrative assistant Leticia Medina, for making every aspect of our academic day genial; Christa Paterline, for unending and fun-filled political discussions and for an unforgettable writing weekend in Williamstown with Meghan; special thanks to Shahrina for last minute help with graphic design. My research was supported by Brooklyn College sabbatical year, and Tow Travel Grants and PSC-CUNY research grants helped finance the multiyear project. I would also like to thank the students of Brooklyn College and other CUNYs who enrolled in the India Global Health Study Abroad course and independent studies at CRHP, especially the first two, Punam Thakkar and Preyasi Kothari, and the participants of the last summer research trip, Tasnia Mahmud, Peter Lee, and Neelima Dosakayala—particularly N