Profile of Professor Jayati Ghosh
HIV/AIDS Research in India: Profile on Professor Jayati Ghosh
This year Dominican Professor Dr. Jayati Ghosh is participating in an innovative new program funded by a grant from the United Negro College Fund to create a model for services and support to orphans and children in families affected by AIDS in India. Funded through Texas Southern University, the goal of this project is to create a model system in which institutes of higher education and community groups will work together to identify and deliver services to children affected by AIDS in Kolkata, India.
Dr. Ghosh is also currently working with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to secure funding to conduct HIV/AIDS research and educational outreach within the young adult population in India. According to a UNAIDS 2006 Report, India has recently overtaken South Africa in terms of the number of persons infected by HIV/AIDS. One of the fastest growing demographics for this disease is women of reproductive age, many of them falling in the younger-reproductive age category of 15-24. This is cause for concern not only because of the ramifications for their health and life expectancy, but also because these women can pass on the virus to the next generation (if appropriate measures are not taken in time). In 2007 Dr. Ghosh hopes to conduct a research, education and outreach program focused on empowering young men and women in India so that they can make appropriate, safe and healthy decisions regarding their reproductive and sexual health and rights to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Ghosh is a Professor in the Division of Business at Dominican. Her research interests are in the areas of economic development and health, with a special emphasis on women's health in Africa and Asia from an economic and social perspective. Dr. Ghosh has written a number of articles dealing with the AIDS epidemic and economic development in India and Africa. She also co-edited the book HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology (Blackwell Publishers, edited with Ezekiel Kalipeni, Joseph Oppong, and Susan Craddock, 2004). Her current research focuses on HIV/AIDS in India and Malawi. Some of her works have appeared in journals such as Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, Asian Profile, and Geographical Review.
