PHFI

Postdoctoral Fellow, PHFI
Adjunct Faculty, IIPH-D

Dr. Devaki Nambiar received her doctorate in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializing in theory-based research on the structural production of social exclusion, specifically HIV/AIDS-related stigma, drawing on fieldwork in India. Her research applies critical theory towards understanding various aspects of health governance, specifically the role of community participation, mass media, and private philanthropy in creating and reproducing resistance and hegemony in resource-poor settings.  

Dr. Nambiar has conducted ethnographic fieldwork (both qualitative and quantitative) connected to these themes in Bangladesh, Tanzania, Vietnam, and India. She is a former Fulbright Scholar (to India), NIH Minority Predoctoral Fellow (at Johns Hopkins, Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA), NIH Fogarty International Scholar (with the Dar es Salaam -Muhimbili University-Harvard School of Public Health Partnership for HIV Treatment Care and Support in Tanzania), and NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (at the HIV Centre at Mailman School of Public Health/New York State Psychiatric Institute, working in Vietnam).

She was member of the core technical secretariat for India's High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage, employing social science research methods to effect health systems reform with terms of reference related to human resources for health, community participation in health, financing, access to essential medicines, management, and health service norms. Her current research issues from this initial policy exercise and employs ethnographic methods to examine the following themes in India: integration of traditional medical providers in health systems reform, private philanthropy and health agenda-setting, and case studies of scaled up community action for health. She is a member of the Governance Hub, PHFI’s interdisciplinary programme of research on critical aspects of health governance in low-income contexts, linked to capacity building and advocacy.

Areas of interest :

Health Policy/Systems Research, Health for All, Social Determinants of Health, Mixed Methods Research, Knowledge Translation

Publications:

• Nambiar, D. Rimal, R. (2012). Duty And Destiny: psychometric properties and correlates of HIV-related stigma among youth NGO workers in Delhi, India. AIDS Care. Jan. 2012. DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2011.648597
• Nambiar D. HIV-related stigma and NGO-isation in India: An historico-empirical analysis. Sociology of Health and Illness. Dec. 2011. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01428.x
• Sheikh K, Nambiar D. (2011) Government Policies for Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medical (TCAM) Services in India: from Assimilation to Integration? National Medical Journal of India. 24(4):243.
• Nambiar D. (2011) On HIV/AIDS-Related Stigma And Building Solidarity Beyond Public Health. Indian Journal of Medical Research. Jul;134:124-7.
• Nambiar D, Ramakrishnan V, Kumar P, Varma R, Balaji N, Rajendran J,  Jhona L,  et al. (2011) Knowledge, stigma, and behavioural outcomes among Antiretroviral patients exposed to Nalamdana’s Radio and Theatre Program in Tamil Nadu, India. AIDS Education & Prevention. 23(4):351-366.        
• Nambiar D. (2010). Book Review: Performance Incentives for Global Health: Potential and Pitfalls. Global Public Health. 6(1): 106-109.
  Sood S, Nambiar D. (2006). Comparing Cost-Effectiveness of the Components of a Behaviour Change Communication Campaign on HIV/AIDS in North India. Journal of Health Communication. 11(S2): 143-16.