Isha Padhye

Chapel Hill, NC

Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program
Project Title:	The ASHA for a Better Future: Community Health Workers’ Impact on Menstrual Health
Field of Study:	Public Health
Home Institution:	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Host Institution:	Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Grant Start Month:	August,2024
Duration of Grant:	Nine months

Brief Bio:

Isha Padhye has a BA in public policy from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. At UNC, she served in various roles in Student Government. Her senior honors thesis was on misinformation. Most recently, she worked as a research associate at the University of Chicago, helping in projects focused on U.S. healthcare policy. Isha was also a U.S. Global Health Corps Fellow from June 2023–May 2024. Her research interests lie in universal healthcare coverage, women’s health, and youth empowerment.

Isha’s Fulbright-Nehru study, based in Mumbai, is evaluating the impact of community health workers, known as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), on menstrual education among the youth in India. It is examining how ASHAs are serving as a resource to menstruating girls and how they are educating these girls. For this, Isha is conducting in-depth interviews with girls between the ages of 13–18 and with ASHA focus groups. This research hopes to make a significant contribution to the growing field of menstrual health management.