Building social sciences and health research: A decade of technical assistance in South Asia

This paper describes main features of a program of technical assistance in South Asia (primarily India) designed to help community health researchers develop more effective data gathering and analysis in applied studies of reproductive health issues. The program was funded by the Ford Foundation (In...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human organization 2002-10, Vol.61 (3), p.189-195
Main Author: PELTO, Pertti J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
AIDS
Assistance
Communication
Computer mediated communication
Culture
Email
Health Research
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
India
Internet
Intervention
Methodology (Data Analysis)
Methodology (Data Collection)
NGOs
Nongovernmental organizations
Reproduction
Research methodology
Sexual Behavior
Social research
Social sciences
Sociology
Sociology of health and medicine
South Asia
Technical assistance
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Summary:This paper describes main features of a program of technical assistance in South Asia (primarily India) designed to help community health researchers develop more effective data gathering and analysis in applied studies of reproductive health issues. The program was funded by the Ford Foundation (India) and organized under a grant to Johns Hopkins University. Recipients of the technical assistance have been mainly small nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and some social science researchers in academic institutions in India. In most cases, the participants have been involved in community-based intervention programs, so the research activities have had a directly applied focus. The increasing challenge of the AIDS epidemic brought about a shift in emphasis in the program, as many organizations and individuals took up research on sexual behavior to better understand the patterns of individual actions that are associated with higher risks of HIV infection. An informal "sexual behavior research network" has developed as the program of technical assistance and the communications among the various participants matured. The use of computers for data management and e-mail communication has facilitated these developments.
ISSN:0018-7259
1938-3525
DOI:10.17730/humo.61.3.8bw4kjpdlb033u0k