Dr. Indira Narayanan has over 30 years’ experience in developing, managing and implementing programs in the area of maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition. Her special interest has been newborn health within the RMNCH framework. She has also worked at integrating these technical areas with HIV/AIDS-PMTCT and family planning/birth spacing. She has worked at global, regional and country levels, at facility and community levels with links between the two.
She has developed strategies to decrease neonatal mortality and provided technical support for national level plans for improving newborn health as in Ghana and Nigeria. Her programmatic experiences include strategic oversight and quality technical support at global and regional levels (Asia, Africa and LAC) and implementation of country MNCH programs in Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, DRC, East Timor, El Salvador, Ghana, Honduras, India, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland and Uganda.
Her experience in the area of research includes operational and formative research and randomized controlled trials including the first study that proved the clinical implication of anti-infective factors in both raw and heated human milk. The latter was published as a leading article in the Lancet. She has over 115 publications that include those in peer-reviewed journals such as the Lancet, J. Pediatrics. Arch. Dis Child. and Ear. Hum. Development. She has developed a number of tools for training (manuals and job aids), supervision and monitoring and evaluation and a large number of reports on experiences, results, lessons learned and recommendations.
Her broad range of experience covers providing leadership, and supporting, mentoring, and coordinating program staff at project headquarters and country field sites. Her work has received consistent approval from USAID, UNICEF, other donors/stakeholders, Ministries of Health and other key partners. She has been successful in achieving high technical excellence in result oriented integrated programs aimed at expansion to scale and sustainability.
Her special focus has been on quality improvement (QI) comprising of competency based training including use of distance learning methods, development of standards, supportive supervision, use of adapted collaborative/QI strategies and monitoring and evaluation. Her areas of expertise include strategy development, business development, technical support and management/ coordination of programs related to advocacy, policies, capacity building, health systems strengthening, community based interventions and continuum of care. This expertise also extends to clinical care, in-service training, and pre-service education.