Sapna Desai
Biographic Data
| ID | 3581753 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sapna Desai |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sapna |
| FAMILY NAME | Desai |
| SIGNATURE | DESAI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Population Council Institute |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2596-9726 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Understanding pathways from primary health care to universal health coverage outcomes
Introduction: Primary Health Care (PHC) rooted in community empowerment, integrated service delivery, and multisectoral action is central to efforts toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), yet little is known about how PHC reforms influence UHC outcomes across contexts. This review examines how PHC approaches affect population coverage, service coverage, and financial protection by identifying what works, for whom, under what circumstances, and w…
Correlates of hysterectomy in low- and middle-income countries
Background: Hysterectomies for benign conditions have declined in recent decades in most high-income countries (HICs); however, it remains a common surgical procedure among women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although an expanding body of evidence has examined the factors associated with hysterectomy in HICs, evidence remains limited in LMICs. Therefore, we systematically reviewed and synthesised the existing ev…
Building a rights-based approach to nutrition for women and children
Women face numerous gender-based barriers that hinder their access to resources, nutritious foods, nutrition services, and maternity entitlements. Evidence shows that certain types of women’s groups can improve women’s access to resources and social capital and in some approaches also improve health and nutrition outcomes. Women’s rights-based organizations in South Asia have a longstanding tradition of collective action toward gender equality. W…
Making health insurance responsive to citizens
BACKGROUND: Many low-income and middle-income countries have introduced public health insurance systems, whereby, thanks to government subsidies, selected groups are entitled to receive insurance coverage even if not paying direct contributions into the system. These efforts towards achieving universal health coverage were often undermined by difficulties in enrolment and registration, barriers to health service utilisation or complicated rules a…
Individual interventions, collective lessons
Background: Interventions with women's groups have been widely implemented to improve health outcomes in low- and middle-income settings, particularly India. While there is a large evidence base on the effectiveness of single interventions, it is challenging to predict whether a women's group intervention delivered in one setting can be expected to work in another. Methods: We applied realist principles to develop and refine a mid-range theory on…
Improving evidence on women's groups
Women’s groups are a widely implemented and researched development intervention, particularly in South Asia and Africa. Groups encompass many models and aim to address a range of objectives. However, there is no consistent approach to describing their varied implementation models, which hinders the accurate interpretation of evidence and construct validity. Drawing from three recent evidence reviews and research experience with groups, we propose…
Female Victimization
Children’s literature is one of the chief vehicles contributing to development of gender identity in children. It can be read as an important socio-cultural and socio-political document. This article examines the gender issue of female infanticide and the representation of gender relations in Ranjit Lal’s ‘Crossword Best Children’s Book Award’ winner Faces in the Water. The study focuses on the correlation between the societal gender issue and ch…
‘We are the bridge’
INTRODUCTION: India's efforts towards universal health coverage include a national health insurance scheme that aims to protect the most vulnerable from catastrophic health expenditure. However, emerging evidence on publicly funded health insurance, as well as experience from community-based schemes, indicates that women face specific barriers to access and utilisation. Community engagement interventions have been shown to improve equitable utili…
Witnessing Intimate Partner Violence Impacts Schooling and Labor Market Outcomes for Young Women in India
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major health and social issue that affects around 30 percent of women globally. This study investigates the relationships through which witnessing IPV in adolescence may impact the labor force participation and employment prospects of women in early adulthood, using a unique dataset from Bihar (India), which surveyed youth (primarily girls) in adolescence and again nine years later. The study examined the rela…
People's care seeking journey for a chronic illness in rural India
Drawing on interviews conducted in 2019-2020, across twenty villages in India, this paper unpacks how people with chronic illness navigate complex care-seeking terrain. We show how the act of seeking care involves navigating through personal, family, social, economic, cultural, and most importantly, difficult health systems spaces-and entails making difficult social, moral, and financial choices. We show how the absence of reliable and accessible…
Gender inequities in treatment-seeking for sexual and reproductive health amongst adolescents
Stark sex differentials in factors associated with symptoms and in treatment-seeking illustrate how structural gender inequities, such as access to economic resources and education, influence sexual and reproductive health amongst adolescents. Along with health system interventions, addressing gender inequities calls for strategies to strengthen parental engagement, social support and girls' access to resources
Classroom, club or collective? Three types of community-based group intervention and why they matter for health
Interventions involving groups of laywomen, men and adolescents to promote health are increasingly popular, but past research has rarely distinguished between different types of intervention with groups. We introduce a simple typology that distinguishes three ideal types: classrooms, clubs and collectives . Classrooms treat groups as a platform for reaching a population with didactic behaviour change strategies. Clubs seek to build, strengthen an…
Community interventions with women’s groups to improve women’s and children’s health in India
Sexual and reproductive health and rights for all
The effect of community health worker–led education on women’s health and treatment–seeking
BACKGROUND: A community-based health insurance scheme operated by the Self-Employed Women's Association in Gujarat, India reported that the leading reasons for inpatient hospitalisation claims by its members were diarrhoea, fever and hysterectomy - the latter at the average age of 37. This claims pattern raised concern regarding potentially unnecessary hospitalisation amongst low-income women. METHODS: A cluster randomised trial and mixed methods…
Incidence and determinants of hysterectomy in a low-income setting in Gujarat, India
Hysterectomy is a leading reason for use of health insurance amongst low-income women in India, but there are limited population-level data available to inform policy. This paper reports on the findings of a mixed-methods study to estimate incidence and identify predictors of hysterectomy in a low-income setting in Gujarat, India. The estimated incidence of hysterectomy, 20.7/1000 woman- years (95% CI: 14.0, 30.8), was considerably higher than re…
Not without a fight
Pragmatic prevention, permanent solution
Hospitalized for fever? Understanding hospitalization for common illnesses among insured women in a low-income setting
BACKGROUND: Health microinsurance is a financial tool that increases utilization of health care services among low-income persons. There is limited understanding of the illnesses for which insured persons are hospitalized. Analysis of health claims at VimoSEWA, an Indian microinsurance scheme, shows that a significant proportion of hospitalization among insured adult women is for common illnesses—fever, diarrhoea and malaria—that are amenable to …
Communication by Mothers with Breast Cancer or Melanoma with Their Children
Communication of familial risk of breast cancer and melanoma has the potential to educate relatives about their risk, and may also motivate them to engage in prevention and early detection practices. With the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy laws, the patient often becomes the sole communicator of such risks to family members. This study surveys mothers diagnosed with either breast cancer or melanoma and their a…
Prevalence of hysterectomy among rural and urban women with and without health insurance in Gujarat, India
This paper presents findings on hysterectomy prevalence from a 2010 cross-sectional household survey of 2,214 rural and 1,641 urban, insured and uninsured women in low-income households in Ahmedabad city and district in Gujarat, India. The study investigated why hysterectomy was a leading reason for use of health insurance by women insured by SEWA, a women's organisation that operates a community-based health insurance scheme. Of insured women, 9…
HIV and Domestic Violence
Gender inequality is driving two distinct yet interlinked epidemics among women in India: HIV and AIDS and domestic violence. As domestic violence is increasingly recognized and HIV infection expands, policy and programs do not reflect the interlinked risks and consequences in married women's lives. This article seeks to establish the nexus between HIV and AIDS and domestic violence and identify potential areas for a state-led response. In a heal…
Tracking Gender-Based Human Rights Violations in Postwar Kosovo
Four years have passed since the institution of the cease-fire in Yugoslavia, and questions remain as to how Kosovar women are faring in the country’s postwar reconstruction. Reports, albeit fragmented, suggest that violence against women began to increase in 1998 and 1999. This trend continued through 2001, even while rates of other major crimes decreased. Despite considerable local efforts to address the conditions of women, there remains a lac…
Pragmatic prevention, permanent solution
Prevalence of hysterectomy among rural and urban women with and without health insurance in Gujarat, India
This paper presents findings on hysterectomy prevalence from a 2010 cross-sectional household survey of 2,214 rural and 1,641 urban, insured and uninsured women in low-income households in Ahmedabad city and district in Gujarat, India. The study investigated why hysterectomy was a leading reason for use of health insurance by women insured by SEWA, a women's organisation that operates a community-based health insurance scheme. Of insured women, 9…
People's care seeking journey for a chronic illness in rural India
Drawing on interviews conducted in 2019-2020, across twenty villages in India, this paper unpacks how people with chronic illness navigate complex care-seeking terrain. We show how the act of seeking care involves navigating through personal, family, social, economic, cultural, and most importantly, difficult health systems spaces-and entails making difficult social, moral, and financial choices. We show how the absence of reliable and accessible…
Incidence and determinants of hysterectomy in a low-income setting in Gujarat, India
Hysterectomy is a leading reason for use of health insurance amongst low-income women in India, but there are limited population-level data available to inform policy. This paper reports on the findings of a mixed-methods study to estimate incidence and identify predictors of hysterectomy in a low-income setting in Gujarat, India. The estimated incidence of hysterectomy, 20.7/1000 woman- years (95% CI: 14.0, 30.8), was considerably higher than re…
Improving evidence on women's groups
Women’s groups are a widely implemented and researched development intervention, particularly in South Asia and Africa. Groups encompass many models and aim to address a range of objectives. However, there is no consistent approach to describing their varied implementation models, which hinders the accurate interpretation of evidence and construct validity. Drawing from three recent evidence reviews and research experience with groups, we propose…
Not without a fight
Sexual and reproductive health and rights for all
Tracking Gender-Based Human Rights Violations in Postwar Kosovo
Four years have passed since the institution of the cease-fire in Yugoslavia, and questions remain as to how Kosovar women are faring in the country’s postwar reconstruction. Reports, albeit fragmented, suggest that violence against women began to increase in 1998 and 1999. This trend continued through 2001, even while rates of other major crimes decreased. Despite considerable local efforts to address the conditions of women, there remains a lac…
Tracking Gender-Based Human Rights Violations in Postwar Kosovo
Four years have passed since the institution of the cease-fire in Yugoslavia, and questions remain as to how Kosovar women are faring in the country’s postwar reconstruction. Reports, albeit fragmented, suggest that violence against women began to increase in 1998 and 1999. This trend continued through 2001, even while rates of other major crimes decreased. Despite considerable local efforts to address the conditions of women, there remains a lac…
HIV and Domestic Violence
Gender inequality is driving two distinct yet interlinked epidemics among women in India: HIV and AIDS and domestic violence. As domestic violence is increasingly recognized and HIV infection expands, policy and programs do not reflect the interlinked risks and consequences in married women's lives. This article seeks to establish the nexus between HIV and AIDS and domestic violence and identify potential areas for a state-led response. In a heal…
Prevalence of hysterectomy among rural and urban women with and without health insurance in Gujarat, India
This paper presents findings on hysterectomy prevalence from a 2010 cross-sectional household survey of 2,214 rural and 1,641 urban, insured and uninsured women in low-income households in Ahmedabad city and district in Gujarat, India. The study investigated why hysterectomy was a leading reason for use of health insurance by women insured by SEWA, a women's organisation that operates a community-based health insurance scheme. Of insured women, 9…
Communication by Mothers with Breast Cancer or Melanoma with Their Children
Communication of familial risk of breast cancer and melanoma has the potential to educate relatives about their risk, and may also motivate them to engage in prevention and early detection practices. With the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy laws, the patient often becomes the sole communicator of such risks to family members. This study surveys mothers diagnosed with either breast cancer or melanoma and their a…
Hospitalized for fever? Understanding hospitalization for common illnesses among insured women in a low-income setting
BACKGROUND: Health microinsurance is a financial tool that increases utilization of health care services among low-income persons. There is limited understanding of the illnesses for which insured persons are hospitalized. Analysis of health claims at VimoSEWA, an Indian microinsurance scheme, shows that a significant proportion of hospitalization among insured adult women is for common illnesses—fever, diarrhoea and malaria—that are amenable to …
Pragmatic prevention, permanent solution
The effect of community health worker–led education on women’s health and treatment–seeking
BACKGROUND: A community-based health insurance scheme operated by the Self-Employed Women's Association in Gujarat, India reported that the leading reasons for inpatient hospitalisation claims by its members were diarrhoea, fever and hysterectomy - the latter at the average age of 37. This claims pattern raised concern regarding potentially unnecessary hospitalisation amongst low-income women. METHODS: A cluster randomised trial and mixed methods…
Incidence and determinants of hysterectomy in a low-income setting in Gujarat, India
Hysterectomy is a leading reason for use of health insurance amongst low-income women in India, but there are limited population-level data available to inform policy. This paper reports on the findings of a mixed-methods study to estimate incidence and identify predictors of hysterectomy in a low-income setting in Gujarat, India. The estimated incidence of hysterectomy, 20.7/1000 woman- years (95% CI: 14.0, 30.8), was considerably higher than re…
Not without a fight
Sexual and reproductive health and rights for all
Classroom, club or collective? Three types of community-based group intervention and why they matter for health
Interventions involving groups of laywomen, men and adolescents to promote health are increasingly popular, but past research has rarely distinguished between different types of intervention with groups. We introduce a simple typology that distinguishes three ideal types: classrooms, clubs and collectives . Classrooms treat groups as a platform for reaching a population with didactic behaviour change strategies. Clubs seek to build, strengthen an…
Community interventions with women’s groups to improve women’s and children’s health in India
Gender inequities in treatment-seeking for sexual and reproductive health amongst adolescents
Stark sex differentials in factors associated with symptoms and in treatment-seeking illustrate how structural gender inequities, such as access to economic resources and education, influence sexual and reproductive health amongst adolescents. Along with health system interventions, addressing gender inequities calls for strategies to strengthen parental engagement, social support and girls' access to resources
Female Victimization
Children’s literature is one of the chief vehicles contributing to development of gender identity in children. It can be read as an important socio-cultural and socio-political document. This article examines the gender issue of female infanticide and the representation of gender relations in Ranjit Lal’s ‘Crossword Best Children’s Book Award’ winner Faces in the Water. The study focuses on the correlation between the societal gender issue and ch…
‘We are the bridge’
INTRODUCTION: India's efforts towards universal health coverage include a national health insurance scheme that aims to protect the most vulnerable from catastrophic health expenditure. However, emerging evidence on publicly funded health insurance, as well as experience from community-based schemes, indicates that women face specific barriers to access and utilisation. Community engagement interventions have been shown to improve equitable utili…
Witnessing Intimate Partner Violence Impacts Schooling and Labor Market Outcomes for Young Women in India
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major health and social issue that affects around 30 percent of women globally. This study investigates the relationships through which witnessing IPV in adolescence may impact the labor force participation and employment prospects of women in early adulthood, using a unique dataset from Bihar (India), which surveyed youth (primarily girls) in adolescence and again nine years later. The study examined the rela…
People's care seeking journey for a chronic illness in rural India
Drawing on interviews conducted in 2019-2020, across twenty villages in India, this paper unpacks how people with chronic illness navigate complex care-seeking terrain. We show how the act of seeking care involves navigating through personal, family, social, economic, cultural, and most importantly, difficult health systems spaces-and entails making difficult social, moral, and financial choices. We show how the absence of reliable and accessible…
Improving evidence on women's groups
Women’s groups are a widely implemented and researched development intervention, particularly in South Asia and Africa. Groups encompass many models and aim to address a range of objectives. However, there is no consistent approach to describing their varied implementation models, which hinders the accurate interpretation of evidence and construct validity. Drawing from three recent evidence reviews and research experience with groups, we propose…
Individual interventions, collective lessons
Background: Interventions with women's groups have been widely implemented to improve health outcomes in low- and middle-income settings, particularly India. While there is a large evidence base on the effectiveness of single interventions, it is challenging to predict whether a women's group intervention delivered in one setting can be expected to work in another. Methods: We applied realist principles to develop and refine a mid-range theory on…
Building a rights-based approach to nutrition for women and children
Women face numerous gender-based barriers that hinder their access to resources, nutritious foods, nutrition services, and maternity entitlements. Evidence shows that certain types of women’s groups can improve women’s access to resources and social capital and in some approaches also improve health and nutrition outcomes. Women’s rights-based organizations in South Asia have a longstanding tradition of collective action toward gender equality. W…
Making health insurance responsive to citizens
BACKGROUND: Many low-income and middle-income countries have introduced public health insurance systems, whereby, thanks to government subsidies, selected groups are entitled to receive insurance coverage even if not paying direct contributions into the system. These efforts towards achieving universal health coverage were often undermined by difficulties in enrolment and registration, barriers to health service utilisation or complicated rules a…
Understanding pathways from primary health care to universal health coverage outcomes
Introduction: Primary Health Care (PHC) rooted in community empowerment, integrated service delivery, and multisectoral action is central to efforts toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), yet little is known about how PHC reforms influence UHC outcomes across contexts. This review examines how PHC approaches affect population coverage, service coverage, and financial protection by identifying what works, for whom, under what circumstances, and w…
Correlates of hysterectomy in low- and middle-income countries
Background: Hysterectomies for benign conditions have declined in recent decades in most high-income countries (HICs); however, it remains a common surgical procedure among women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although an expanding body of evidence has examined the factors associated with hysterectomy in HICs, evidence remains limited in LMICs. Therefore, we systematically reviewed and synthesised the existing ev…
Medicine (15 works) · Environmental health (9 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (9 works) · Economic growth (8 works) · Health care (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Healthcare Systems and Reforms (6 works) · Nursing (6 works) · Sociology (6 works)