Indian health activists speak on globalization

As co-convener of the People’s Health Movement-USA, the Hesperian Foundation is proud to announce:

Indian health activists speak in Berkeley on globalization and health

Dr. Balaji Sampath and Ms. Kalpana Karunakaran are currently touring the U.S. to speak on issues of health and globalization. Sponsored by the People’s Health Movement-USA and the Association for India’s Development, they will speak in Berkeley at the North Berkeley Senior Center (1901 Hearst Ave. @ Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley) on May 20, 2004 at 7 p.m. Dynamic and motivating speakers, Balaji’s presentation will be of interest to everyone concerned with issues of public health, science and education in a globalizing world; Kalpana will focus on how poverty and gender discrimination affect women’s health.

Balaji Sampath and Kalpana Karunakaran are both involved in the Tamil Nadu Science Forum. Balaji has worked on several large campaigns to improve health, literacy, and the quality of education in Indian schools. Kalpana has helped establish rural women’s self-help-groups and trained rural women coordinators to run the associated savings and credit programs. Both were involved in organizing the Arogiya Iyakkam (Health Movement), a visionary, multi-pronged rural intervention and development program judged by the UN in 2001 to be one of the top ten most effective in the world. It now reaches over 1000 villages in 10 districts in Tamil Nadu.

Balaji and Kalpana were active as well in organizing the People’s Health Movement-India. As State Coordinator, Kalpana helped bring the campaign to 30,000 villages across India. Balaji developed training and publicity materials, and planned program and logistics for the 2,000+ delegates who attended the People’s Health Assembly in Calcutta, precursor to the historic founding meeting of the People’s Health Movement in Bangladesh in December 2000.

Balaji earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1997 and is quite familiar with issues of health and education in the United States. While the U.S. may be exporting jobs to India, Balaji and Kalpana will argue against the folly of trying to export our crumbling, increasingly expensive health system as well.