‘’If you educate the girl and the mother, you are educating the family … and an entire nation’’

A proficient gynaecologist and a benevolent woman, Dr Duru Shah has earned abundant goodwill for the work she has been doing. She has not only been the winner of several national and international awards for excellence in her field but also acted as the voice of the industry for promoting best practices. She has been a social crusader as well to uplift the health conditions for women and children living in the hinterlands of India. Her work is certainly admirable but what makes her more lovable is her humble nature and her unfailing determination to elevate the current conditions of women in India- be it health-wise or socially. Raelene Kambli in a tète-à-tète with the charismatic doctor, finds out more about her experiences working for women and children in India and also on her plans for the year ahead

Excerpts…

Dr Duru Shah

Dr Shah, you have been empowering women in India in many ways for a long time now. Tell us about your experiences through this journey? Which are the social ventures that you are associated with?

Discrimination against women and girls remain the most prominent form of inequality in our country. Gender-based violence, economic discrimination, reproductive health inequities and harmful socio-cultural practices are the various ways in which our women are suffering.

What so many do not realise is that when you educate girls and young women on reproductive and sexual health, you are educating the mothers of tomorrow which will reap rich rewards in the future. It is a well known fact that if you educate the girl and the mother, you are educating the family and in the process, an entire nation.

I have seen and met women from all strata of society both personally and professionally and the attitudes and mind sets towards women are no different. Whichever socio-economic class they come from. The only thing which is really obvious, is that when the woman is educated and self-sufficient financially, the attitude of men changes for the better towards that woman.

You stress on the importance of educating women in India and are actively involved in several education, health and exchange programmes. Please elaborate on these social ventures, especially the ‘Growing Up’ programme and the Adolescent Empowerment Project “Kishori”?

We have initiated many social programmes over the years such as ”Growing up” – the urban adolescent empowerment project which educated  approximately five million school going girls in India on adolescent reproductive and sexual health. Then we had ‘Kishori’ the urban slum and community-based adolescent empowerment programme in Dharavi. This programme aimed at empowering adolescent girls with health, knowledge and vocation – we adopted 2000 girls in Dharavi, the largest slum of Asia. The programme in Dharavi was done on the lines of the UNICEF education programme called ‘Life Skills’ and has been very effective here.

 Then we also had a rural maternal health programme ‘Save the Mothers’, that I had initiated and spearheaded when I was the President of Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI).

There was also “Suprabha Ganga Yatra” (a five-year project) – rural women’s health programme, which was initiated on January 18, 2006, under the aegis of FOGSI. This project was undertaken to reduce the rate of women dying during childbirth which is very high in that region.

Apart from education, you also speak about increasing preventive healthcare. What are the strategies that India needs to adopt in order to prevent diseases especially among women? What is your vision in this regard?

I think this can be done by way of:

• Education of the adolescent: to prevent unsafe abortions and transmission of HIV and other infectious diseases, availability of youth friendly services for young people where they can freely approach healthcare.
• Preventive healthcare for elderly to reduce disability.
• All vaccinations to be included in the National Programme.

 My passion has always been to focus on preventive health, especially in the young girls and women as they are the mothers of tomorrow. Currently, I am focusing my attention on combating sexual abuse, especially in young girls.

Towards that end, more recently, I had partnered with the leading NGO, SNEHA and was part of their ground breaking 16-day campaign on gender violence issues, ‘Breaking the Silence on Violence’.

Moving onto your achievements, doctor you became India’s first gynaecologist to receive the prestigious FIGO Distinguished Merit Award during the opening ceremony of the World Congress of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology. How do you feel?

Appreciation always feels good, especially when it comes from the globally renowned FIGO – The International Federation Of Gynecology & Obstetrics. The FIGO Distinguished Merit Award means a lot, not only because it is a global award, but more importantly because it recognises all the work I have done and my initiatives as President of FOGSI here in India, in improving women’s health especially in the preventive arena — building awareness and educating our women on reproductive and sexual health, the importance of planned pregnancies, care in the pre pregnancy stage, during and post pregnancy, prevention of HIV and transmission to the new borns. All this adds up to my overall focus and ongoing efforts towards empowering women in our country because as they say, you educate the woman and you are educating the entire family, the nation when you look at it. These are the mothers of tomorrow’s children.

And that really takes care of our future doesn’t it?

As an Indian, I felt very proud to represent India on the world stage. As a woman, I felt elated to be recognised for my work in women’s healthcare.

What are your plans for this year?

My plans for this year are to work on the area of :-

1. Sexual abuse – To improve the collection and recording of medical evidence which will assist in getting justice for the victim.
2. Menopausal health — To bring menopausal health to the centre stage and to focus the attention of our policy makers on this key stage of a woman’s life.

Any special message for the women in the healthcare industry?

You are the privileged women in our society and you should utilise your knowledge  and expertise to its fullest capacity in creating a better healthcare environment for women in our country.

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