Centre for Enquiry Into Health and Allied Themes
National Course on Developing a Comprehensive Health Care Response to Survivors of Sexual Assault from 1st to 2nd October, 2011
CEHAT would like to invite you for a 2 day National course on ‘Developing a comprehensive health care response to survivors of sexual assault.’ The course will be organized in collaboration with Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi and Sama. CME credits will be provided by the Delhi Medical Council. We invite applications from Health Care Providers/lawyers/psychologists/social workers who are currently playing a role vis-à-vis sexual assault in their respective hospitals. Experts from gynecology, forensic medicine, law, and ethics from premier institutions will serve as faculty for this course.
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Statement of the Medico Friend Circle Condemning the Conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen
We, the Medico Friend Circle, a national organization of health professionals, express our outrage at the verdict of the Raipur district and sessions court, on 24th December 2010, declaring Dr Binayak Sen, General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh People’s Union for Civil Liberties and Vice-President of the National PUCL, guilty of sedition and treason, and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
National Course on Responding to Violence against women through Feminist Counselling
CEHAT and TISS are pleased to announce its 1st National course on Responding to Violence against women: Feminist Counselling. The course is aimed at building a critical feminist perspective on the issue of violence against women and enhancing skills of the participants in responding to survivors of violence.
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Budget Advocacy Work in Maharashtra
CEHAT have been closely working with the groups in Maharashtra region so as to strengthen the budget work. The local groups are trained to monitor resource allocation and formulate demands for state/district /village level budgetary allocations as well as accountability and transparency.
In April 2003 CEHAT organized first budget orientation workshop for the activists and NGOs in Maharashtra. The workshop was organized in collaboration with National Center for Advocacy Studies, Pune and Samarathan’s Centre for Budget Studies, Mumbai. The Workshop was conducted by well-known budget analysts giving insights to the participants about the importance of understanding budget in development work and the need to use it as a tool for advocacy for strengthening social sector investment and expenditures. Read More...
Maharashtra Budget 2011-2012
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On 25th March 2011 CEHAT along KHOJ(Quest for Knowledge, Hope, Opportunity, and JOustice),Department of Economics, University of Mumbai, PG Department of Economics, SNDT, Tata Institute of Social Sciences organized a Seminar on "Maharashtra’s Budget: A Scrutiny of Development Discourse". Some of the groups and concerned individuals in Maharashtra come together and initiated the process of taking the budget into an open forum that can lead to better informed intervention by social movements and civil society organizations. These groups mainly came together so as to initiate the process of taking the budget into an open forum that can lead to better informed intervention by social movements and civil society organizations. The main focus of the seminar was on social sector provisions in the state budget, and patterns of general government spending. The issues pertaining to social sector expenditure with specific reference to dalits, tribals, children and women and how to use budget analysis as a tool to monitor the government’s commitment to social sector. Around 100 participants including students, researchers, academicians and activists assembled together to raise their concerns based on a succinct analysis of the state budget. seminar Hightlight... Seminar on “Violence Against Women and Health Systems: Implications for Health Policy” on January 21st 2012, MumbaiViolence against women (VAW) is a significant cause of physical and psychological harm or suffering among women, as well as a violation of their right to health. It takes various forms (physical, emotional, sexual, and financial) and the perpetrators range from strangers and state agencies to intimate partners and other members of the family. The National Family Health Survey – III, has found 33% women facing some form of physical violence, 10% reporting sexual violence and 16% reporting parental abuse. Research shows that several such survivors reach health facilities due to the health consequences of violence. They have the right to treatment, psychosocial support, compensation and long term rehabilitation. |
Health and Human Rights Course from January 10-19, 2011An intensive course exploring linkages between health and human rights and building skills in rights based monitoring and use of international and national instruments, designed for health and human rights activists. The course is organised by CEHAT and University of Mumbai, Department of Civics and Politics. Krishna Raj Memorial Lecture on Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Sciences On 'Moving Towards a System for Universal Access to Healthcare in India’ on January 5, 2011 at MumbaiSpeakers:
Third IJME National Bioethics Conference 2010Indian Journal of Medical Ethics,India's foremost peer-reviewed journal on bioethics is happy to announce the Third National Bioethics Conference on Governance of Healthcare – Ethics, Equity and Justice at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi from November 17-20, 2010.Read More Seminar on Spatial Dimensions on Health Care-Use of GIS in Health Studies  The use of Geographical Information system (GIS) in the field of health research is increasingly becoming important. GIS can be effectively used as location technique for analysis for decision making in relation to optimum gainful utilization of available medical resources. The seminar was organized in collaboration with the Department of Geography; University of Mumbai. The aim was to discuss the prospects and future development of GIS in spatial health and health care management. The Tejewhwar Singh Memorial Fellowships for 2010 in Social Sciences,Business & Management and Media & Communication StudiesSAGE invites applications for the award of The Tejewhwar Singh Memorial Fellowships for 2010 in Social Sciences,Business & Management and Media & Communication Studies Read More Read More.... Training On Responding To Violence Against Women: Role Of Health Care Providers, 9th-12th December 2010Brief of training As part of our efforts to address the issue of violence against women (VAW), CEHAT, organised four day training on ‘Responding to VAW: Role of Health Care Providers’. The training with a special emphasis on conflict situations was held in Delhi at Indian Social Institute from 9th to 12th Dec, 2010. Doctors, Counsellors, Community Health Workers, Development Professionals and Social activists came together from different states in the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra to engage with the issue of VAW in conflict situations... Read More
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) held a press conference on 6th Sept 2010The Human Rights Watch (HRW) held a press conference on 6th Sept 2010 asking the Indian government to ban the "Two finger test" commonly used in examining women and children reporting sexual assault. The HRW appealed to the government to ban such a test and develop sound standards for conducting forensic examinations based on international standards, one such example is that of the WHO. The report refers to one such good practice model evolved by CEHAT in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in India... Read More Fourth Anusandhan Trust’s Krishna Raj Memorial Lecture on Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Sciences on April 9, 2010CEHAT with eSocialSciences; Dept. of Economics, Mumbai University;P.G. Dept. of Economics, SNDT Women’s University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Cordially invite you to the Fourth Anusandhan Trust’s Krishna Raj Memorial Lecture on Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Sciences on "Equity and Health in the Era of Reforms" by Dr. GITA SEN, Professor at Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Read More... CEHAT Working Paper SeriesCEHAT is happy to launch the Working Paper series of CEHAT. With the launch of the Working papers series CEHAT is offering its researchers a space for further reflection on past and ongoing research and to engage with problems only touched upon in the research studies. Most importantly, it allows its researchers to go beyond the immediate questions and explore the many dimensions of social research. Working Paper No. 2
Feminist Response to Attempted Suicide: A Model for Public Health Intervention by Padma Deosthali and Sangeeta Rege Domestic violence is described as a pattern of continuous or intermittent coercive behaviour and control. It is used to humiliate women and force them to conform/adhere to gender roles. Each episode of abuse results in physical and psychological trauma that usually remains hidden. One of the most common effects of violence is the infliction of self-harm. Domestic violence has been associated with suicidal ideation and has been one of the leading causes of attempted suicides amongst women. Dilaasa , India 's first hospital based crisis centre was established to address Domestic Violence and provide services to women within the hospital itself. This counselling endeavour brought to light that several women admitted for "accidental consumption of poison" had essentially attempted suicide, the underlying reason being Domestic violence. In order to address this issue, the centre evolved a counselling model which was informed by feminist principles that challenged the main stream psychiatric model of labeling women as involved in "deliberate self harm" or indulging in "impulsive behaviour" but rather as a reaction to an extremely unbearable situation. This paper presents the feminist counselling methodology and illustrates it with examples from the counselling practice. Thus it makes a case for including a feminist counselling approach in public hospitals to the issue of attempted suicides in women... Download Training on Sexual Violence Against WomenCEHAT was invited for a training session organized by Dr. Indu Sahani, Sheriff of Mumbai. The training session is a part of the helpline Dial 1298 started by Sheriff. Dial 1298 is a Woman's Helpline active in Mumbai which helps women in distress; gets in touch with the right NGO which can help them depending on the problem or issue. In the training sessions that are organised various NGOs come together to share their experiences, difficulties and expertise to become more efficient.Sangeeta Rege from CEHAT took a training on Sexual Violence Against Women. About 80 members were present at this training. Press Coverage State Level Convention on Health Sector Budget in Orissa: Demands for a ChangeThe public health scenario in Orissa is facing significant challenges of poor infrastructure, lack of human resources and acute government apathy. As a result, the poor and the marginalized sections of our society are going through difficult phases of pain and suffering. The process of neoliberal onslaught has aggravated this situation in last two decades. The latest Economic Survey highlighted some of the glaring deficits in the health sector situation in the State including severe incidences of infant & maternal mortality and malaria deaths in the state. Even common diseases like diarrhea and cholera take a tool of innocent lives every year. Under the influence of neoliberal policies, there has been a major rise in the number of private health facilities that are typically out of the reach of the masses. The new found dependence on the Centrally Sponsored Schemes has also marred the State run machinery in making provisions for the poor. On 10th June the hundreds of Civil Society Groups (CSOs) from across the state came together to discuss the problems related to health sector in Orissa and prepared a Charter of Demands on Health Sector Budget for advocacy with the state government in the backdrop of the ongoing Budget Session in the State Assembly. Read More... E-bulletinThe Library and Documentation Unit of CEHAT has initiated a Quarterly e-bulletin with the aim to disseminate information to wider audiences ,this e-bulletin provides updates on the current resources that are added to the collection along with specific information about work done by CEHAT in specific area along with links to various past and present studies and resources available at CEHAT and other related links. Download e-bulletin (Aug-Oct 2010)
Download e-bulletin(May-July09) Statement on the recent case of Sexual AssaultFollowing the spate of news reports regarding the case of sexual assault, we as organizations and individuals working on issues of women�s rights and violence against women, feel that there is a need to comment on the role of that various agencies must play in order that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to the book. In this light, we would like to point out the following: 1. Role of the Hospital: There have been questions raised by the police and media about whether evidence can be collected without an FIR. In fact, the police even insisted on taking the victim to Nagpada Police Hospital for re-examination (which the hospital rightly refused) despite the fact that Rajawadi Hospital had already collected evidence. As per the judgment of the Supreme Court in State of Karnataka v Manjanna (2000) , a requisition for examination from an Investigating Officer is not required. A victim can go directly to a hospital, get herself examined and treated, and subsequently decide on legal action. Read More... International Women’s Day Show at DilaasaThe International Women’s Day Celebration at Dilaasa was held on 13th March 2009 at the K.B.Bhabha Hospital, Bandra. Dilaasa and CEHAT staff staged a puppet show for women patients and clients of Dilaasa. In the form of a story, the show covered several issues. One of the acts was around the right to accessing an abortion without husband’s consent, as women patients are often asked to get the husband’s signature when they seek abortion. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act and women’s right to residence under this Act was highlighted through the show as well. This was followed by a discussion around the same issues.
Dilaasa at Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Hospital(M.Y.),Indore, Madhya PradeshDilaasa the hospital based Crisis Centre is now opened at the M.Y. Hospital, Indore which is a joint venture of CEHAT and M.Y.Hospital,Indore was formally inaugurated by MGM Medical College Dean Dr. Saraswat on 4th February,Thursday at 11.30 a.m. The centre will screen, counsel, treat and help women suffering from Domestic Violence. Two trained counsellors are available at the centre. The centre have been active for past nine months on a pilot basis and about 66 cases of Domestic violence have already approached the centre for information. A training session based on woman victims of Domestic violence and role of health care providers was conducted immediately after the inauguration ceremony. News Clippings
Paper presented at the International Conference on Gender-based Violence and Reproductive Health on 18th February 2009.On 18th February 2009, Sangeeta Rege (SRO) made a presentation entitled ‘Implementation of Protocols to deal with Sexual Assault - Experiences from the field' at the organized by the National Institute of Research on Reproductive Health and the UNFPA. She presented CEHAT’s experience of implementing the Sexual Assault and Forensic Evidence Kit (SAFE kit) at two hospitals in Mumbai and highlighted the fact that the introduction of protocols ensures meticulous collection of medico-legal evidence; however it does not substantially change the manner in which victims of gender-based violence are treated by the health system. This requires development of a more comprehensive response, which must include building perspective of health professionals on the issue of violence, modifying procedures related to handling of victims and provision of holistic care, in addition to introduction of protocols. view the Presentation |
