Prof Shalini Bharat | Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Prof Shalini Bharat

Director , Vice-Chancellor

Qualification

M.A., D.Phil. (Psychology) Allahabad University

Contact

director[at]tiss[dot]edu

+91-22-25525202

+91-22-25525050

NOTE: ALL general enquiries regarding academic programs, student verifications, admissions, recruitment, and such other, should be directed to the relevant sections ONLY.

Shalini Bharat is Director/Vice Chancellor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.

She has nearly four decades of experience in teaching, research, capacity building, advocacy and field action in broad areas of social science and health, social development, family studies and minority community demographics. She is known for her work on equity and access issues with special reference to reproductive and women’s health; social determinants of HIV and TB, including stigma, discrimination and human rights issues; multi-purpose prevention technologies for HIV epidemic; self-testing for HIV prevention; young people’s health and wellbeing; family studies and child adoption; women, work and family; and demography of the Indian Parsi community. With her wide experience in community-based research using qualitative and mixed methodology research approaches, she has contributed to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the social and gender dimensions of a range of issues concerning health, development and wellbeing of women, youth and vulnerable populations such as, people living with HIV, transgender people and homosexual men, and female sex workers. She has also contributed to understanding mainstreaming of gender in HIV and mental health and social linkages for controlling drug resistant TB. Her research on the Parsi community is an in-depth exploration of the psycho-social aspects of the demographic decline of India’s most threatened population group on the verge of extinction.

Shalini Bharat currently also leads the Institute’s ‘Saksham’ program, a sub-recipient of Global Fund grant, for developing and implementing psycho-social counseling and social linkages for drug resistant TB patients in four Indian states. Prior to this, between 2012 and 2015, when ‘Saksham’ program was the Principal Recipient of the Global Fund grant for HIV counseling project across the country with 36 University partners, she served as its National Program Director.

She has served as consultant on many national and international projects. Her research work has received funding from a range of sponsors including Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI, Sir Dorabjee Tata Trust, National Institutes of Health (USA), UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, DfID, IAVI/USAID among others. In 2002 she was invited by the State Department of the US government under its International Visitor’s Program, to visit HIV/AIDS programs in various US Universities, and was a visiting faculty/ guest lecturer to London School of Economics, Yale University, and University of Le Havre France and to numerous national and international conferences and seminars. She has served on the editorial board of a leading international journal, including as book review editor in another. She is the current head of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Social Work, India’s leading journal in the field.

As a member on several national scientific advisory committees and boards Shalini Bharat is actively engaged with a wide range of national level programs, schemes, policies and field interventions in health and public health, social development, gender, HIV/AIDS, TB prevention among others.

Shalini Bharat’s recent publications include a 4-Volume Series “Parsis of India: Continuing at the Crossroads” from Sage and “Health and Wellbeing of India’s Young People” from Springer. Her seminal work on HIV related stigma and discrimination was published as Key Material by UNIADS, Geneva in 2001.

Shalini Bharat is fluent in Hindi and English, and can read and understand Marathi. She is an alumna of Allahabad university (Psychology Department). She is the recipient of two gold medals in her master’s degree program and one in her bachelor’s study program and was awarded the UGC Junior Research Fellowship for doctoral work. Prior to joining TISS in 1984 she served as Research Associate (1978-81) and lecturer (temp-1981-82) at Psychology department of Allahabad University, and lecturer (ad hoc) at the Daulat Ram College of Delhi University (1982-83).

Health equity, access and gender (with focus on reproductive health, women’s & adolescent health)
Migration and health-related vulnerabilities
Social and structural drivers of the HIV epidemic and HIV prevention research
HIV-related stigma, discrimination and human rights
Family in the context of social development and change
Demographic transition of minority communities
Ethics and health research
Qualitative and mixed-methods research methodology

Books

2019. Bharat, S., and Sethi, G. (co-eds.). Health and wellbeing of India’s young people. New Delhi: Springer.

2017. Desai, A.S., and Bharat, S. (Series co-editors). Parsis of India: Continuing at the Crossroads, Volumes I-IV. New Delhi: Sage

2017. Bharat, S., and Desai, A.S. (Co-Editors). The Indian Parsis: Themes Old and New. Volume 1. New Delhi: Sage

2017. Bharat, S. Contemporary Parsis: Marriage, Family and Community. Volume 2. New Delhi: Sage.

1996. Bharat, S. (Ed.)- Family measurement in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Special Reports

2014. Bharat, S., & Chakrapani, V. Research compendium: HIV Related Stigma Research in India: Current knowledge, gaps and recommendations. New Delhi: UNDP

2014. Chakrapani, V & Bharat, S. Getting to Zero? A national survey on HIV Related Stigma and Discrimination in urban India. New Delhi: UNDP

2001. Bharat, S. & P. Aggleton. India: HIV and AIDS-related Discrimination, Stigmatisation and Denial. UNAIDS Best Practice Collection, Key Material, Geneva: UNAIDS. (World wide release by UNAIDS, Executive Director, P. Piot at the Durban Conference against Racism, 2001).

2001 - India: HIV and AIDS-related Discrimination, Stigmatisation and Denial. UNAIDS Best Practice Collection, Key Material, Geneva : UNAIDS. (World wide release by UNAIDS, Executive Director, P. Piot at the Durban Conference against Racism, 2001).

2001 - Situational Assessment of Sexual Health in India: An implementation package with H. Lambert, H. Grosskurth, S. Jaswal, G. Daveysmith and S. Panda. Department of International Development, New Delhi.

Journal Special Issue (Ed./Co-ed.)

2013. (April) - HIV Counseling – Empirical evidence from the field. Indian Journal of Social Work, Special Issue (co-editor). Edited with Shubhada Maitra and Anjula Srivastava, 74(2), 151-320. Mumbai: TISS (published in Feb 2014)

1998. “AIDS in Asia and the Pacific” 2nd Edition, Special Issue for the Journal AIDS. 12(B), Associate Editor with J. Kaldor, T. Brown and R. Chan. London: Lippincott-Raven, Pub.

Journal Articles/Book chapters (only select publications since 2005-).

2019. Sethi, G., and Bharat, S. Adolescents and youth: Setting the context. In S. Bharat and G. Sethi (ed.), Health and Wellbeing of India’s Young People: Challenges and prospects. New Delhi: Springer.

2019. Sethi, G., and Bharat, S. Researching adolescents and youth in India: An assessment of data quality and research capacity. In S. Bharat and G. Sethi (ed.), Health and Wellbeing of India’s Young People: Challenges and prospects. New Delhi: Springer.

2018. Ekstrand, M.L. Bharat, S., and Srinivasan, K. HIV stigma is a barrier to achieving 90-90-90 in India. The Lancet, Vol. 5, October 2018.

2018. Chauhan, S., Unisa, S., Joshi, B., Kulkarni, R., Singh, A., Subramaniam, T., Chaudhuri, R.N., Biashya, A.C., Bharat, S., Patil, A., Pasi, A., Agarwal, D. Capacity assessment of district health system in India on services for prevention and management of infertility. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 43(1), 19-23.

2017. Sharma, V., Suryawanshi, D., Saggurti, N., Bharat, S. Correlates of health care utilization under targeted interventions: The case of female sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, India. Health Care for women International, DoI: 10. 1080/07399332.2017.1361423,38(11), 1188-1201.

2017. Bharat, S., and Desai, A.S. Introduction. In Bharat, S., and Desai, A.S. (co-ed.). The Indian Parsis: Themes Old and New. Volume 1, pp. 1-20. New Delhi: Sage

2017. Bharat, S. Lowest-low fertility (LLF) and the Parsis: Commonalities and differences with other LLF countries. In Bharat, S., and Desai, A.S. (ed.). The Indian Parsis: Themes Old and New. Volume 1, Pp. 58-84. New Delhi: Sage

2016. Suryawanshi, D., Patel SK, Sharma V, Adhikary R, Bharat S (2016) Association between Community Collectivization and Mental Depression among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Andhra Pradesh, India. Health Care Current Reviews 4: 176. doi: 10.4172/2375-4273.1000176

2016. Garrido-Hernansaiz, H., Heylen, E., Bharat, S., Ramakrishna, J., & Ekstrand, M. Stigmas, symptom severity and perceived social support predict quality of life for PLHIV in urban Indian context. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 14, 152, doi: 10.1186/s12955-016-0556-x, November 2016

2016. Suryawanshi, D., Patel S.K., Adhikary, S., and Bharat, S. Does mass-media public communication campaign normalise discussion, behaviour and attitude about condom use among married men in India? Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research, 7, 599. doi: 10.4172/2155-6113.1000599, July 2016

2016. Bandewar, S V., Bharat, S., Kongelf, A., Pisal H., Collumbien, M. Considering risk contexts in explaining the paradoxical HIV increase among female sex workers in Mumbai and Thane, India. BMC Public Health, DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-2737-2. Published on 28 Jan 2016. 1-9.

2015. Suryawanshi, D., Sharma, V., Saggurti, N., & Bharat, S. Factors associated with the likelihood of further movement among mobile female sex workers in India: A multinomial logit approach. Journal of Bio-Social Science, doi:10.1017/S0021932015000267

2015. Chakrapani, V., Newman, P.A., Shanmugham, M., Mengie, S., Verghese, V., Nelson, R., Bharat, S. Acceptability of HIV pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and implementation challenges among MSM in India: A qualitative investigation. AIDS Patient Care & STDs, 29(10), 1-9.

2015. Behera, D., Bharat, S., Gawde, N.C. Induced abortion practices in an urban Indian slum: Exploring reasons, pathways and experiences. Journal of Family & Reproductive Health, 9(3), 129-135.

2015. Sinha A., Chandhiok N., Sahay, S., Deb, S., Bharat, S., Gupta, A., et al. Male circumcision for HIV/AIDS in India: Emerging viewpoints and practices of health care providers. AIDS Care: Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV. DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2015.1039957

2015. Kongelf, A; Bandewar, S.V.S; Bharat, S., & Collumbien, M. Is scale-up of community mobilisation among sex workers really possible in complex urban environments? The case of Mumbai, India. PLoS One. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121014, March 26, 2015 (open access journal).

2015. Sharma,V., Saggurti, N., & Bharat S. Health care coverage among long distance truck drivers in India: An evaluation based on Tanahashi model. HIV/AIDS Research & Palliative Care (open access journal), 83-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/HIV.S76416.

2015. Sharma,V., Saggurti, N., & Bharat S. Association between system reach and exposure to interventions and characteristics of mobile female sex workers in four high HIV prevalence states of India. Global Journal of Health Science, 7(4), 83-95

2014. Deshpande, S., & Bharat, S. Sexual partner mixing and differentials in consistent condom use among men who have sex with men in Maharashtra, India. Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2014.972968. 6 Nov 2014

2014. Bharat, S., Ramakrishna, J., Heylen, E., & Ekstrand, M.L. Gender- based attitudes, HIV misconceptions and feelings towards marginalised groups are associated with stigmatisation in Mumbai, India. Journal of Biosocial Science. 10.1017S0021932014000054, 14 Feb 2014

2014. Suryawanshi, D., Mahapatra, B.B., Sharma, V., Anil Kumar, K., Saggurti, N., & Bharat, S. Degree of male mobility as a risk factor for HIV in high In-migration districts of Maharashtra, India. World Journal of AIDS, 2014, 4, 346-355

2014. Sahay S., Nagarajan, K., Mehendale, S., Deb S., Gupta A., Bharat, S., Bhatt, S., Kumar, A.B., Kanthe, V., Sinha, A., & Chnadhiok, N. Community and healthcare providers’ perspectives on male circumcision: A multi-centric qualitative study in India. PLoS ONE 9(3):e91213.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0091213

2013. Bharat, S., Mahapatra, B.B., Roy, S., & Saggurti, N. (2013). Are female sex workers able to negotiate condom use with male clients? The case of mobile FSWs in four high prevalence states of India. Plos One, 8(6), e68043

2013. Malave, S., Ramakrishna, J., Heylen, E., Bharat, S., & Ekstrand, M.L. Differences in testing, stigma and perceived consequences of stigmatisation among heterosexual men and women living with HIV in Bengaluru, India. AIDS Care. DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2013.819409 (July 2013, 1-9)

2012. Bharat, S. Perception of AIDS in Mumbai: A study of low income communities. In Dalal, A.K. & Misra, G. Eds. New Directions in Health Psychology, pp. 409-428. New Delhi: Sage.

2012. Guha, M., Baschieri,. A., Bharat, S., Bhatnagar, T., Sane., S., Godbole, S., ...& Collumbien,M. (2012). Risk reduction and perceived collective efficacy and community support among female sex workers in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra: The importance of context. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Doi 10.1136/jech 2011-20562

2012. Steward W., Bharat, S., Ramakrishna, J., Heylen E., Ekstrand M . Stigma is associated with delays in seeking care among HIV -infected people in India. Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. DOI: 10.1177/1545109711432315

2011. Bharat, S. A systematic review of HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination in India: Current understanding and future needs. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 8(3), 138-149.

2011. Ekstrand, M., Bharat, S., Ramakrishna, J., & Heylen, E. Blame, symbolic stigma and HIV misconceptions are associated with support for coercive measures in urban India. AIDS & Behaviour, doi 10.1007/s10461-011-9888z (published online 03 February 2011)

2008- Niranjan, S., Verma, R., Halli, S., Anil Kumar and Bharat S. HIV risk behaviour among male contracted and non-contracted migrant workers in India: potential role of labour contractors and contractual system in HIV prevention. AIDS, 22 Suppl 5, S1-S10

2008- Steward W.T, Herek, G, Ramakrishna J, Bharat S, Chandy S, Wrubel J, & Ekstrand M.L. HIV related stigma: Adapting a theoretical framework for use in India. Social Science and Medicine, 67, 1225-1235

2008- Bharat, S. Population movement and health related vulnerabilities: Focus on reproductive health and HIV epidemic. In K.N. Bhatt (ed.) Population, environment and health: Emerging issues. Sage publications.

2007 - Bharat, S. and Mahendra, V. Meeting the sexual and reproductive heath needs of people living with HIV: Challenges for health providers, Reproductive Health Matters, 15 (29).

2007 - Mahendra, V., Gilborn, L., Bharat, S., George, B., Samson, L., Mudoi, R., Jadav, S., Gupta, I., Daly C., and Pulerwitz, J. Understanding and measuring AIDS-related stigma in health care settings: A development country perspective. Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 4 (2), 2007.

2005 – Bharat, S. Racism and HIV/AIDS. In K. Boyle (ed.) Dimensions of Racism. Geneva: OHCHR

Current

Saksham Pravaah – A Global Fund supported Psychosocial counseling intervention for DR TB patients in 4 Indian states (Sub-recipient of Central TB Division, MoH & FW)

Saksham Jan Urja – A Tata Power supported community intervention project for TB prevention and control in M Ward

Previous

January, 2012. Understanding the increase in HIV prevalence among FSWs between two rounds of IBBA in Mumbai & Thane: An in-depth exploration. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Completed (with LSHTM, London and others)

September 2012. Access and Utilization of Services for Prevention and Management of Infertility in the Public Health Care Delivery System in India: A multisite study. Co-PI with National Institute of Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai and others. Funded by UNFPA. Completed.

August, 2011. HIV Related Stigma Research in India: A Research Compendium. UNDP. Completed

August, 2010. Impact assessment of HIV prevention response in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With LSHTM, London & NARI, India. Completed.

July, 2010. Knowledge Network Project for HIV Prevention Programmatic Learnings. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (With Population Council, New Delhi).

2009. Community and the health providers’ perspectives on male controlled biological option in India (with focus on male circumcision in the context of HIC prevention): An ICMR task force study. (WITH NARI, India-Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi). Completed.

2009 AIDS stigma, gender and health consequences in India. National Institutes of Health (NIH), US (A collaborative project with University of California at San Francisco, US and National Institute of Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India).

2009 Demographic transition among the Parsi community of India: A study of the familial, marital and socio-psychological dimensions Part II: A Quantitative study. UNESCO/ PARZOR (Sir Dorabjee Tata Trust).

2008 Migration, mobility and HIV: Assessing the patterns and drivers of migration/ mobility of male migrants and examining the links with HIV risk. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Population Council, New Delhi (in collaboration with other TISS faculty)

2007 Demographic transition among the Parsi community of India: A study of the familial, marital and socio-psychological dimensions Part I: A qualitative study. UNESCO/ PARZOR (Sir Dorabjee Tata Trust).

Current

Qualitative Research Methodology (Master’s students of Hospital Administration and Public Health (Health Administration; Social Epidemiology; and Health Policy, Planning and Management)

Public Health Ethics & Legislation (MPH) (co-teacher)

Qualitative Research Methodology (M.Phil.)

Health Research Ethics (M.Phil.)