Dr. Upasona Ghosh

Associate Professor

Email Address: Upasona.ghosh@iiphb.org

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7528-770X

Academic Qualifications: MSc, MPhil, PhD

Research Areas: Indigenous Health, Environmental Health (Climate change, health system resilience and disaster), Gender and Health system, Health system Research, Qualitative and Participatory Research Techniques

Number of Publications: 23

A Brief Biography:

A Brief Biography: I am a public health anthropologist working in the intersection between climate change, public health and health system. My doctoral research was on social determinant of child health in the Indian Sundarbans- a globally known climate change hotspot as a part of health systems research to improve access, affordable and quality health services for the marginalized. During my PhD, climate change impacts emerged as the most crucial determinants to children’s health in the Sundarbans by mediating all other determinants like parents’ livelihood, shelter, nutrition, education and so on.

Post PhD, my work focuses on impacts of climate change on community health and health care delivery system. I aimed to understand social vulnerabilities of the communities experiencing climate change and also throws light on the Planetary health dynamics impacting transformational changes towards climate resilient health system. Currently, I am building up community based practical knowledge towards a sustainable pathway of change in health policy process for the vulnerable and disadvantageous populations. My work also focuses on building climate resilient and low carbon health system in Indian context and climate adaptation-mitigation co-benefit.

As a faculty at IIPH, Bhubaneswar, I am involved in various academic and research activities, which includes teaching environmental health and social and behavioural sciences in the public health management diploma (PGDPHM) and Masters of Public Health (MPH). I am convening the MPH course in IIPHB as well as an e-learning course on Climate and Health in collaboration of Villanova University. I am closely working with Centre for Environmental Health as a technical expert and also the co-lead from Asia in Climate Resilient and Sustainable Health System Thematic Working Group of Health System Global.

List of Your Publications (selected/all)

  1. Ghosh, U.; Bose, S.; Bramhachari, R. and Mandal, S. (2016) ‘Expressing collective voices on children’s health: photovoice exploration with mothers of young children from the Indian Sundarbans’,BMC Health Services Research, 16(Suppl 7):119-130.doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1866-8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5123342/ ISSN: 1472 6963
  2. Ekirapa-Kiracho, E.; Ghosh, U.;Brahmachari, R. and Paina, L. (2017) ‘Engaging stakeholders: lessons from the use of participatory tools for improving maternal and child care health services’,BMC Health Research Policy and Systems, 15(Supplement 2):106https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-017-0271-z ISSN: 1478 4505
  3. Sen, B.; Dhimal, M.; Latheef, A.; Aishath, T. and Ghosh, U. (2017) ‘Climate Change: health effects and response in South Asia’, BMJ, 359 :j5117 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321108568_Climate_change_health_effects_and_response_in_South_Asia ISSN: 2044 6055
  4. Ghosh, U.; Bose, S.; Bramhachari, R (2017), ‘Geo-climatically vulnerable Sundarbans-a social network analysis of mother’s social ties and child care’, International Journal for Population, Development and Reproductive Health, Volume 1 Issue No.1 December 2017
  5. Ghosh, S. Bose, R. Brahmachari, S. Mandal. ‘Building capacity of local media to facilitate intersectoral action for health in the Sundarbans, West Bengal’. British Medical Journal Published in July 2016
  6. Vadrevu, U. Ghosh, S. Bose. ‘How can research engage with policy makers for improving health care for the vulnerable populations? Lessons from Knowledge intervention project in Sundarbans, West Bengal’ .British Medical Journal Published in July 2016
  7. Ghosh, U., Bose, S. and Bramhachari, R (2017) Geo-climatically vulnerable Sundarbans:a social network analysis of mother’s social ties and child care, International Journal for Population, Development and Reproductive Health. Volume 1 Issue No.1 page: 27-41.
  8. Ghosh, U., Bose, S. and Bramhachari, R. (2018) Living on the Edge: Climate Change and Uncertainty in the Indian Sundarbans, STEPS Working Paper 101, Brighton: STEPS Centre
  9. Gabrysch, S. Waid.J, Wendt. S, Müller.A, Kader.A, U, (2018) Nutritional effects of flooding due to unseasonably early monsoon rainfall in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study in an ongoing cluster-randomized trial. Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 2 Special Issue S1-S32, May, 2018https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanplh/PIIS2542-5196(18)30088-3.pdf ISSN: 2542-5196
  10. Mehta, L., Srivastava, S., Adam, H.N. et al. Reg Environ Change (2019) 19: 1533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01479-7

 

  1. U, Sen, B, Bose, S. (2019) Photo voice as a participatory approach to influence climate related health policy in the Sundarbans. Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 3 Special Issue S22, September, 2019, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30165-2/fulltext

 

  1. Bose, S., Ghosh, U., Chauhan, H., Narayanan, N., & Parthasarathy, D. (2018). Uncertainties and Vulnerabilities among the Koli fishers in Mumbai: A Photo voice Study. Indian Anthropologist, 48(2), doi:10.2307/26757766https://www.jstor.org/stable/26757766

 

  1. Ghosh-Jerath S, Kapoor R, Ghosh U, Singh A, Downs S and Fanzo J (2021) Pathways of Climate Change Impact on Agroforestry, Food Consumption Pattern, and Dietary Diversity Among Indigenous Subsistence Farmers of Sauria Paharia Tribal Community of India: A Mixed Methods Study. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:667297. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.667297

 

  1. Rout K.S, Ghosh U., Parhi A., Chandrashekhar S., Kadam S., (2021) State led innovations for achieving universal health coverage in a low resource setting Odisha, India: opportunities and challenges, Vol 8, No 5, IJCMPH.
  2. Ghosh U., Bose S., Kjosavik, D. The Certainty of Uncertainty: Climate Change Realities of the Indian Sundarbans, in The Politics of Climate change and uncertainty in India, edited by Mehta L., et al, 2021
  3. Climate Insecurity, Health and Well-Being Among Ganga–Meghna–Brahmaputra Delta Communities in Multidimensional Approaches to Impacts of Changing Environment on Human Health Edited ByJoystu Dutta, Srijan Goswami, Abhijit Mitra, 2021
  4. Ghosh U. Manohar S., Spiker M., Gunaratna N., Ambikapathy R., (2022) Climate safety nets for optimal nutrition, health, and livelihoods: Proposed characteristics of climate safety nets and a case study of Sundarbans, India. WHO Bulletin (Accepted, In Press).
  5. Nallala, S., Ghosh, U., Desaraju, S.S. et al. Why are they “unreached”? Macro and Meso determinants of health care access in hard to reach areas of Odisha, India. Int J Equity Health 22, 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-022-01817-y
  6. Patel K, Panda N, Sahoo KC, Saxena S, Chouhan NS, Singh P, Ghosh U, Panda B. A systematic review of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) during humanitarian crises and/or emergencies in low- and middle-income countries. Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 28;10:1018092. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1018092. PMID: 36249215; PMCID: PMC9555566.
  7. Guinto R R, Baluyot C J, Gan C C R, Ghosh U, Mahadzir M D A. Health sector solutions for promoting sustainable and nutritious diets BMJ 2022; 378 :e071535 doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-071535
  8. Bhatia, B., Hossain, S., Ghosh, U. et al. Reimagining gendered community interventions: the case of family planning programs in rural Bangladesh. glob health res policy 9, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-023-00337-8
  9. Panda, N., Desaraju, S., Panigrahy, R.P. et al. Menstrual health and hygiene amongst adolescent girls and women of reproductive age: a study of practices and predictors, Odisha, India. BMC Women’s Health 24, 144 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-02894-7
  10. Mourougan M, Tiwari A, Limaye V, Matzarakis A, Singh AK, Ghosh U, et al. Heat stress in India: A review. Prev Med Res Rev

Report

  1. Ghosh U., Vadrevu.L, Mondol.A, (2018), Children of Uncertain Climate, FHS-IIHMR, https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/14327/CCH%20Report_Final%20version_UG%20revisions.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

 

  1. Kanjilal B., Bose S., Patra N., Barman D., Ghosh U., Vadrevu L., Mandal A., and Sengupta P., (2013) How healthy are the children of Indian Sundarbans? IIHMR: Jaipur futurehealthsystems.org/publications/sundarbans-health-watch-series-1-how-healthy-are-the-childre.html

 

  1. Ghosh, U.;Bose, S. and Bramhachari, R. (2016) ‘How do mothers’ social ties affect childcare: findings from a Social Network Analysis study in the Indian Sundarbans’, Future Health System Research brief, No.10,November 2016. http://www.futurehealthsystems.org/publications/2016/12/16/how-do-mothers-social-ties-affect-childcare-findings-from-a-social-network-analysis-study-in-the-indian-sundarbans

 

  1. Bose, S Ghosh, U., and Bramhachari, R. (2016) ‘Voices from the ground: Photovoice research on children’s health in the Indian Sundarbans’, Future Health System Research Brief, No. 09, September, 2016 http://www.futurehealthsystems.org/publications/2016/9/12/fhs-india-research-brief-9-voices-from-the-ground-photovoice-research-on-childrens-health-in-the-indian-sundarbans

 

  1. Srinivas N, Ghosh U., Shyama Sundari D. (2020) Health In Difficult Areas: A Qualitative Study Report in collaboration with HSTP, HSHP, Tata Trust, GoO

 

  1. Ghosh U, Srinivas N., Jose M, Nanda L. (2020) A Roadmap for Improving the Health Status of Women in the 89 Tribal Blocks of Madhya Pradesh: A Study Report on Tribal Women’s Health in Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with AIGGPA
  2. Singh A, Ghosh U, Nanda L (2020) Development of Health Communication Strategy for Sagar Division of Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with AIGGPA