Speakers

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Khartoum, Sudan

Dina Abbas works for Gynuity Health Projects where she is involved with the organization’s work in post-partum hemorrhage. She has also provided technical assistance on program design, monitoring and evaluation, training curricula, and research for public health and service delivery initiatives in the Middle East, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Ms. Abbas holds a MPH from Columbia University. 

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

Bridgit Adamou is the Program Manager for the MEASURE Evaluation Population and Reproductive Health (PRH) associate award. Ms. Adamou holds an MPH in International Health from Boston University and a BS in Child and Family Studies from the University of WI-Madison. Her primary interest and expertise is in international reproductive health and family planning.

University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Dr. Shilu Adhikari started her career as a clinician and gathered nine years of experience, including two and a half years as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Nepal. She was recognized as having an excellent academic career in Nepal's pioneer university teaching hospital along with sound clinical practice. Since the last one and a half years she has been working as a senior program officer in the USAID-funded Family Planning and Reproductive Health Program (Nepal Family Health Program II/Engender Health). She has been successfully designing and implementing programs to improve the quality of maternal and neonatal health care in the peripheral health facilities and assisting in designing programs for improving quality of family planning services in Nepal. She has also been instrumental in developing national medical standards and other health care publications in maternal health and family planning.

Alma Adler is a research fellow in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  Alma specializes in the measurement of both maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Adriaansz has over 25 years of experience in development and implementation of maternal and child health programs. Dr. Adriaansz earned a medical degree specializing in OB/GYN from the top Indonesian medical university and at the School of Reproductive Medicine at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He earned an MPH from Johns Hopkins University. 

Naripokkho, Bangladesh

Dr. Kaosar Afsana, Associate Director of BRAC Health Program, is an MD with an MPH from Harvard and PhD from Edith Cowan University. She is involved in national and international research projects, including research on maternal health practices and health care systems in Bangladesh. She is a member of the Bangladesh Obstetric and Gynecological Association and lectures in reproductive and sexual health and rights.

Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

First author: Arunika Agarwal is attending health management course from IHMR, Jaipur.She has a Masters in Business Management and has worked on projects supported by UNFPA, PSI, the Norwegian Embassy, LASA etc. at  Development and Research Services, Delhi. Second author: Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, PhD in Social Medicine and Community Health, is working towards improving the health of the urban poor at PFI.

Director of MCHIP

Shashikant Ahankari holds a postgraduate diploma in public health. He is a senior public health activist in Maharashtra state with more than 20 years of field experience. He has implemented various innovative health projects in resource-poor districts (Osmanabad) of the state. The model of comprehensive village health workers was taken by the government of India as ASHA. He is on various government committees. 

ICDDR,B

Dr. Saifuddin Ahmed is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD. He is a physician and an epidemiologist by training and has over 20 years of teaching and research experience in population and reproductive health. He has authored several flagship publications on family planning and maternal health.

Dr. Salahuddin Ahmed has more than eight years of experience focusing on BCC, development of IEC/BCC materials, implementation of community-based interventions, and conducting large scale surveys. Dr. Ahmed holds a MBBS degree from Dhaka Medical College. He's currently the Program Manager of an operations research to address unmet needs for contraception in the postpartum period in Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Dr. Ahmed has 20 years of public health experience and focuses on maternal health and family planning. He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Public Health UK, founding member of White Ribbon Alliance, Pakistan and Core Group member of Pakistan Health Ecnomics Network. He has designed and implemented a comprehensive 'Voucher for Health' initiative and worked with private providers and on micronutrients and HIV.

Confederation of Indian Industry

Navrongo Health Research Centre

She has a bachelors and a masters degree in Anthropology. She has been invovled in maternal, child, and newborn health research since 2008. As part of a study on maternal, child, and newborn survival, she has worked among the indigenous population of Bangladesh. Presentaly, she is involved with the qualitative component of Bangladesh Maternal mortality Survey (BMMS), 2010.

Khurshid Alam graduated in demography and did his Master of Public Health. He has over 9 years of experience working in health, population, and nutrion sectors in Bangladesh. He is now working for a Gates-funded maternal health project in the urban slums of Bangladesh as Research Investigator and leading several operations that are researching the community health workforce as Principal Investigator.

ICDDR,B

Dr. Tibebu Alemayehu is the Country Program Manager for Ipas Ethiopia. Ipas is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to reducing unsafe abortions and advancing women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Dr. Alemayehu has 18 years of  experience as a medical doctor, public health practitioner, program manager, and technical advisor. 

John Snow, Inc.

Nabeel Ali has a Bachelors in Philosophy and a Masters in Public Health. He has been invovled in maternal, child, and newborn health research since 2002. He specializes in formative research, but his specific interest lies in medical-anthropological research. Currently, he is conducting a study on perceptions of women regarding MR (menstrual regulation) and MR-related services in Bangladesh.

Smita Anand has been working as Manager of Programs with CEDPA India for the past six years. She manages programs at regional and national level through planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of projects focused on integrated approach of RCH by coordinating with NGOs and government agencies.

Currently a student at LSHTM, Erin Anastasi has worked in the field of international health and development in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the U.S., focusing on sexual/reproductive health, maternal/child health, HIV/AIDS, and human rights. Anastasi also has an interest in micro-finance and its relationship with women´s health and autonomy, having spent time with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. 

MD and DNB in Community Medicine. Working as Associate Professor in the Community Medicine Department at MGIMS, Sevagram, Wardha, Maharashtra. Currently on sabbotical leave and has been working in the Department of Public Health in Oman Medical College for the past year. Worked with USAID project CLICS (Community Led Initiatives for Child Survival) focusing on maternal and child health and quality services.

University of Ibadan

Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal

Rashmi Asif is the Reproductive Health Advisor for the Access-FP Program, India. She has over 30 years of national and international experience working in the areas of maternal, child, and reproductive health. She has developed skill and competency-based training materials for doctors and paramedic staff on family planning and assisted the government of India to develop national guidelines. 

World Health Organization