2 results
5 - Armaity S. Desai, 1992
- Gurid Aga Askeland, Diakonhjemmet Sykehus, Norway, Malcolm Payne, Manchester Metropolitan University
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- Book:
- Internationalizing Social Work Education
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2017, pp 75-86
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Summary
Biography
Beginning as a lecturer, Armaity S. Desai (b. 1934) became Vice Principal and Principal, College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan (NN) (1957-82). She was appointed Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) (1982-95), then Chairperson, University Grants Commission (UGC) (1995-99). Her educational qualifications include: a BA (Hons) in sociology and anthropology, Bombay University, 1955; Diploma in Social Service Administration (family and child welfare), TISS, 1957; an MA, 1959; and a PhD in 1969 from the School of Social Service Administration (SSA), University of Chicago. Practice roles included casework at the Chicago Child Care Society, staff supervision at the University of Chicago Hospitals, and voluntary and leadership roles in Indian social work, focused on child, family and youth. While Director at TISS, she was President of the Association of Indian Universities (1992). International roles have included serving as Vice President, IASSW; President, Asian Regional Association for Social Work Education (later APASWE); work for the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok and Manila, and with the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
What has the award meant to you?
The award was not as important for me as the person I have cherished in whose name it was given. I value the award because Katherine has played a significant role in my professional development, and I was the first awardee to be selected, which I cherish. However, I do not talk about my awards. Your work speaks for itself and results in awards or positions.
Katherine knew me thoroughly and was familiar with my work. My relationship with her started while I was doing my PhD at the University of Chicago. As an international student, I wanted to take up a topic relevant for me, rather than an American issue. I decided to do a study on the relevance of social work education for international students who came to study in the US. My PhD supervisor directed me to meet Katherine, then Secretary-General of IASSW.
After completing my studies, on my way back to India, I met her again in New York to share my study with her. She was happy and took me for a meal in a restaurant. She loved good food and was a great cook.
2 - The right to health: illusion or possibility?
- Edited by Paul Bywaters, Coventry University, Eileen McLeod, University of Warwick, Lindsey Napier, The University of Sydney
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- Book:
- Social Work and Global Health Inequalities
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 15 July 2022
- Print publication:
- 16 September 2009, pp 23-36
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Summary
Introduction
The World Health Organization's (WHO’s) constitution defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO, 1948, p 1). This may be widely accepted as an ideal, but in practice health continues to be perceived differentially by policy makers, health care providers, civil society groups and the general populace. One thing is certain: the evidence that health cannot be achieved through only biological and technological interventions is overwhelming.
Thirty years ago, there was a ‘revolution in thinking’ about health and health care at the International Conference on Primary Health Care at Alma Ata (WHO, 2008, p 747). The conference asserted that primary health care was the preferred strategy for global health policy, underpinned by core values. The Alma Ata Declaration (WHO, 1978) reaffirmed that health is a fundamental human right and proclaimed that the gross inequalities in health status between and within developed and developing countries were politically, socially and economically unacceptable. Governments who signed the Declaration committed themselves to making appropriate investments in economic and social development, and in health systems, to ensure ‘Health for All’ their citizens, including the poor; to provide access to affordable health care; and to community ownership of the organisation of health services. The resultant ‘Global Strategy of Health for All by the Year 2000’ determined that ‘all people in all countries should have at least such a level of health that they are capable of working productively and of participating actively in the social life of the community in which they live’ (WHO, 1981, p 15).
However, this vision was rapidly undermined by the International Monetary Fund's promotion of its ‘structural adjustment’ approach to economic development, supported by the World Bank, and was replaced with a ‘selective primary health care’ approach (Walsh and Warren, 1979) which focused on vertical single issue interventions (WHO, 2008). It has been argued that ‘Health for All’, based in primary health care, was not really given a chance, although countries like Mozambique, Cuba and Nicaragua demonstrated that the principles of equity and justice on which ‘Health for All’ was based could work (Magnussen et al, 2004).