Penn India reSEARCH: A Collaboration for High-Impact Health and Demographic Research

This proposal seeks to develop a collaboration between Penn and a demographic surveillance site in India called SEARCH (in the district of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra) for the purpose of generating new knowledge about important health and demographic outcomes in India. This project has two main components. First, the researchers will use existing rich data from this site to study four important but under-studied topics in the Indian context: (1) the distribution and determinants of birth weights; (2) Patterns of under-five mortality in relation to health interventions; (3) Patterns of adult mortality with a focus on risks factors such as smoking and alcohol; and (4) Health differentials between indigenous vs. non-indigenous populations and their associated factors. Second, we will lay the foundations for future Penn-SEARCH collaborative projects, building on SEARCH’s infrastructure and experience, as well as common research interests between Penn and SEARCH.