Padma Deosthali

Dr Padma Deosthali has been engaged in research, training & policy advocacy in the areas of gender-based violence and health policy research for more than 20 years. She has led the setting up of health systems models for responding to VAW, contributed to development of WHO Clinical Guidelines for responding to IPV and SA, 2013 as member of Steering Group of the WHO GDG. She contributed towards guidelines for responding to VAW during COVID19 for the Government of Bihar, India. Steered the integration gender integrated modules for communicable and non-communicable diseases in addition to SRH in medical curriculum. She conducted a rapid assessment of One Stop Centres in India and a situational analysis of health systems response to VAW in SEARO region. She has investigated the impact of rape on survivors and their families (2019), co-authored a study on medico-legal context of custodial deaths and development of guidelines for examination of persons in custody and conducting post mortems (which led to the eventual WHO guidance document) in 2018. She holds a PhD from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She has worked closely with the UNFPA, UNDP and WHO on various assignments.