Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Senior Researcher
Field of Specialization:	Public Health
Name:	Ms. Rekha Vishwanathan
Official Address:	UNICEF, New York
Indian Host Institution:	SAATHII Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Duration of Grant & Start Date :	Duration: 6 months September 2011

Brief Bio:

Rekha Viswanathan is a public health professional specializing in the field of HIV and AIDS. She currently works with UNICEF, based in New York, as an officer for HIV and AIDS programs. She works with field officers to identify, develop and use HIV program evaluations to improve indigenous programs. Her background is diverse, having previously worked as an international health news producer for a non-profit news organization, and previously, as a program manager for a chronic disease management program. She earned her Master's in public health and her Bachelor's in arts. Throughout her career, she has continued her professional development, and is versed in deploying communications technologies (web-based tools, design and publishing tools, etc) to raise awareness about the issues that are at the core of her work. India has responded to the needs of the poorest children living with HIV through the creation and piloting of different supportive policies and programs, most often through the model of social welfare, insurance and fee-reduction schemes. Ms. Vishwanathan's Fulbright-Nehru research is titled as 'Improving care for the most vulnerable: an analysis of policies and programmes for children living with HIV". The purpose this grant is to learn about ASHA's, now numbering more than a million and spread across several states with health indicators below the norm.