Urvashi Prasad's Blog Posts | Program Officer, Microfinance & Health

Urvashi manages initiatives to develop sustainable models for delivery of basic services (clean drinking water and sanitation) to the urban poor in India, and to address the multiple needs of extremely poor households through holistic interventions (encompassing livelihoods, education and health services), in an effort to elevate families from an impoverished state to the level of the bankable poor.

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Recent blog posts by Urvashi

It might be hard to imagine how something as fundamental as a toilet is not on the top of someone’s priority list. Or to understand why a patient stops taking his tuberculosis medication even though it’s free. But the reasons are simple: People living in extreme poverty face numerous challenges and conflicting priorities at every turn.

May 30, 2013

by: Urvashi Prasad

The urban poverty paradox: It’s good for you. Why won’t you do it?

It might be hard to imagine how something as fundamental as a toilet is not on the top of someone’s priority list. Or to understand why a patient stops taking his tuberculosis medication even though it’s free. But the reasons are simple: People living in extreme poverty face numerous challenges and conflicting priorities at every turn.

Children across India suffer needlessly from malnutrition. Evidence-based school health programs, administered well, are key to changing that situation. In the coming months, we look forward to progress on three clear fronts.

Dec 18, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

School-Based Health: India's Key to Fighting Malnutrition at Scale

Children across India suffer needlessly from malnutrition. Evidence-based school health programs, administered well, are key to changing that situation. In the coming months, we look forward to progress on three clear fronts.

Careful planning now will help ensure state-by-state adoption of well-designed deworming programs. And if that happens, we may achieve a future in which intestinal worms and malnutrition are a rarity, not a baseline expectation, especially among the poor.

Oct 23, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Malnutrition in India: Taking Interventions From Implementation to Institutionalization

Careful planning now will help ensure state-by-state adoption of well-designed deworming programs. And if that happens, we may achieve a future in which intestinal worms and malnutrition are a rarity, not a baseline expectation, especially among the poor.

Deworming programs have been shown to be highly effective. With a long term commitment to the program, Rajasthan is likely to reap dual benefits from the program: Improved childhood health and elevated educational levels.

Oct 19, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Rajasthan’s Deworming Program Targets 16M Kids – and Helps Blaze the Trail for Sustainable School Health Initiatives Nationwide

Deworming programs have been shown to be highly effective. With a long term commitment to the program, Rajasthan is likely to reap dual benefits from the program: Improved childhood health and elevated educational levels.

In the effort to promote universal access to sanitation, we can’t get distracted by the relative glamour of a technical design competition to reinvent the toilet. We also need an arsenal of non-technical strategies.

Jun 21, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Will reinventing the toilet solve the global sanitation crisis?

In the effort to promote universal access to sanitation, we can’t get distracted by the relative glamour of a technical design competition to reinvent the toilet. We also need an arsenal of non-technical strategies.

Given the complexities involved, is the effort to link microloans to water and sanitation work worth pursuing? The answer is an unequivocal yes.

Jun 07, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Linking microfinance, water and sanitation: Real challenges, real benefits

Given the complexities involved, is the effort to link microloans to water and sanitation work worth pursuing? The answer is an unequivocal yes.

How can families break out of extreme poverty? An innovative West Bengal pilot program provides valuable insights.

May 27, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

The ultra poor in urban India: Can 'livelihood' programs help break the cycle?

How can families break out of extreme poverty? An innovative West Bengal pilot program provides valuable insights.

Our job in the coming years is to bring the right government stakeholders and the right program-implementation partners to the table to help ensure that the existing solutions are effectively implemented using money that’s already there.

Apr 12, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Public health in India: Six reasons school-based health makes sense

Our job in the coming years is to bring the right government stakeholders and the right program-implementation partners to the table to help ensure that the existing solutions are effectively implemented using money that’s already there.

A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review critiqued private foundations for the tendency to fund diseases that are “highly visible and ownable.” The critique hit home for us – not because it reflects the way we work, but rather because it reflects some of the thinking that’s led us to our current approach to health issues in India.

Apr 04, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Is there a 'right' disease to fight? Or a right way to do it?

A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review critiqued private foundations for the tendency to fund diseases that are “highly visible and ownable.” The critique hit home for us – not because it reflects the way we work, but rather because it reflects some of the thinking that’s led us to our current approach to health issues in India.

The health benefits of deworming are proven and the implementation methodology for mass, school-based, urban health interventions has now been successfully modelled. Now it's time to expand on what we've learned.

Feb 27, 2012

by: Urvashi Prasad

Deworming Delhi: A project-management perspective

The health benefits of deworming are proven and the implementation methodology for mass, school-based, urban health interventions has now been successfully modelled. Now it's time to expand on what we've learned.

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