National Award for Women’s Development
through Application of Science & Technology
conferred on Dr. Rani Bang
Dr. Rani Bang has
been awarded with National Award for Women’s Development
through Application of Science & Technology in recognition
of her outstanding and pioneering contribution for the
past two and a half decades on improving women’s
health in rural India through an innovative and powerful
approach of research with the people and for the people.
She has spearheaded the development of a comprehensive
village health care program which has now become a nationally
and internationally acclaimed model. This innovative
approach of empowering rural women to take care of their
community’s health has reduced the infant mortality
in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra by over seventy five percent.
The award was conferred upon her by
the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil
at the National Conference on Showcasing Cutting Edge
Science & Technology by Women in New Delhi.
Dr. Rani Bang exemplifies an amalgamation
of idealism, social service and scientific research.
She has made landmark contribution to improving women’s
life in India and globally – as a gynecologist,
as a research scientist and as a social activist.
Dr. Bang completed her Medical Education
(MD) in India with gold medal and at the Johns Hopkins
School of Public Health, (MPH) in the US. Along with
her husband, Dr. Abhay Bang, she founded the voluntary
organization, SEARCH, (Society for Education, Action
and Research in community Health) 22 years ago in one
of the most underdeveloped districts, Gadchiroli, in
the state of Maharashtra. There they live and work with
the people in 150 villages to provide community-based
health care and conduct research. They have established
the now famous community health care and research center
‘Shodhagram’ in this tribal area. From this
remote place, they have evolved a very innovative and
powerful approach of ‘Research with the People’
which has generated, time and again, new evidence and
solutions to shape national and global thinking.
By conducting the first ever study
in two villages in Gadchiroli and publishing in the
Lancet, Dr. Rani Bang first brought to the notice of
the world that rural women had a large hidden burden
of gynecological diseases. She subsequently trained
the Dais in villages to make them village level health
workers. With convincing evident she advocated the need
for a comprehensive reproductive health care package
for rural women in India.
Dr. Rani Bang along with her husband
and colleagues have developed a model for a village
health care program which is now being recognized nationally
and internationally. They have demonstrated how the
pneumonia in children can be managed in villages, and
recently, how neonatal care can be provided at the village
level. Their innovative approach of empowering the village
women to take care of their community’s health
has reduced the infant mortality rate in their work
area from 121 to 30, which is the best indicator of
their work. This model has been successfully replicated
by NGOs and by the Indian Council of Medical Research
of the Govt. of India, in 5 states; and recently has
been incorporated in the 11th Five Year Plan of India.
She has written two books in Marathi
on women’s lives – ‘Goieen’ and
‘Kanosa’. ‘Goieen’ has received
the State literary award.
She was a member of the National Commission
on Population, Govt. of India, and of several national
and international committees.
Dr. Rani Bang and Dr. Abhay Bang were
honoured by the Government of Maharashtra with the highest
honour of the state – Maharashtra Bhushan. In 2005,
the TIME magazine selected and honoured them as the
Global Health Heroes. In 2006, their organization, SEARCH
received the first MacArthur Foundation International
Award. In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Jamuna
Lal Bajaj award for her work for the upliftment of women
in India.
Source:
Press Information Bureau Date: March 08, 2008
