DR VISHWAJEET KUMAR, LUCKNOW

CATEGORY: GENDER EQUALITY (MALE)

Dr. Vishwajeet Kumar has been working to restore the dignity and safety of childbirth and check the deaths of mothers and newborn babies. The youngest of six brothers born to a farmer mother in a village in Bihar, Dr Kumar completed his medical studies in India and went on to study and serve as faculty at the Johns Hopkins University, USA. He turned his focus to Uttar Pradesh which is one of the most dangerous places for childbirth in the world. After returning from the US in 2002, he set up a community co-laboratory in rural Shivgarh (75 kms from Lucknow) to understand community practices around maternity and childbirth. His solution, that combined scientific evidence and traditional wisdom, empowered mothers to adopt simple practices to save the lives of their newborns leading to a 54% reduction in newborn deaths and overall improvement in maternal health. This work, published in medical journal The Lancet, has inspired maternal and newborn health programs across the world, and contributed to the WHO’s global recommendations on community health workers. Dr Kumar has expanded his scientific work to identify solutions for strengthening the health system towards improving the care of mothers and newborns. Along with Dr. Atul Gawande at Harvard University, he led ‘Better Birth’ – a global study focusing on improving care at birth across 160 community health centres in UP, which was recently published in scientific journal the New England Journal of Medicine.

His organisation, the Community Empowerment Lab, is supporting the UP government in accelerating the adoption of Kangaroo Care, empowering women to experience their own life-giving abilities. His other initiative includes building, mentoring and personally coaching a team of young women from rural communities to fight for the rights of mothers and babies. He has been honoured by several institutions including the Bellagio Residency Program by the Rockefeller Foundation, The Grand Challenges, GE Global Innovation Network, Asia21 Young Global Leader Fellowship, and the Lucknow Management Association.

NOMINATED BY: AARTI KUMAR