Kala Azar

This is a special inter-disciplinary publication on "Kala Azar - Emerging Perspectives and Prospects in South Asia", a collection of papers from he scholars and experts concerned with various issues related to Kala Azar. Kala azar caused by L. donovani is the traditional name for the disease on the Indian subcontinent. The disease occurs among the poorest of poor and marginalized population. In the South-East Asia Region, the disease is mainly limited to three countries, viz., India, Bangladesh and Nepal. This book critically reviews the constraints and challenges and tries to identify the roadmap of elimination of Kala azar with the ultimate goal of achieving it by the year 2015.

Harshad P. Thakur (b. 1967) is a Professor and Chairperson in Centre for Public Health, School of Health Systems Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. His research interests include Kala Azar, Tuberculosis, radiation epidemiology, user fees, equity in access to health care, public health in developing countries, etc. He was instrumental in starting MPH (Master of Public Health) with specialization in Social Epidemiology at TISS during 2008. He mainly teachers Epidemiology to MHA (Hospital and Health Administration) and MPH students at TISS. Besides various other projects, he has worked on a WHO TDR project "Implementation Strategies for Visceral Leishmentation Treatment in India - Policy Implications for Action" which received financial support from the UNICEF / UNDP / World Bank / WHO Special Progeamme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). He had also organised a Workshop on Policy Analysis on Kala azar in South-East Asia on 27 November 2009 at Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), New Delhi. Before joining TISS, Dr. Thakur was at Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai. He obtained his MBBS and MD in Preventive and Social Medicine from Seth G.S. Medical College in 1994.