Northeast India is located away from mainland India and has a poor connectivity with the mainland India. Many inhabitants of the region have sociocultural beliefs and practices that are different from the mainstream Hindu and Islamic culture. It has the highest under-five child mortality rate in India and diarrhea is the third leading cause of…

Background: Dental neglect results in dental caries, gum disease, and contributes to chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancers. Poor oral health habits developed in childhood persist into adulthood and can contribute to chronic diseases. School settings are a practical platform for teaching oral health skills. Purpose:…

We use data from three waves of India National Family Health Survey to explore the relationship between the month of birth and the health outcomes of young children in India. We find that children born during the monsoon months have lower anthropometric scores compared to children born during the fall-winter months. We propose and test hypotheses…

UIL has published a second edition of a collection of case studies of promising literacy programmes that seek to empower women. "Narrowing the Gender Gap: Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes" (originally published in 2013 as "Literacy Programmes with a Focus on Women to Reduce Gender Disparities") responds to the…

Community-based initiatives have become a popular approach to addressing the health needs of underserved populations, in both low- and higher-income countries. This article presents findings from a study of female peer facilitators involved in a community-based maternal and newborn health intervention in urban slum areas of Mumbai. Using…

India has witnessed a major expansion in participation in basic education in recent years, in the context of a major programme for its promotion: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Despite a significantly improved picture at the basic level, a considerable proportion of children continue to drop out before reaching the secondary level. Over half of…

The first Innocenti Global Seminar, which was sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), investigated the topic of Early Child Development (ECD). This summary report focuses on the three objectives of the seminar, which were to: (1) review critical issues in the field of child development so as to provide a rationale for investing…