page_title: Abhay and Rani Bang
section_title: Positions held
hierarchical_section_title: Abhay and Rani Bang / Positions held
caption_attribution_description: English: Dr. Abhay Bang and Rani Bang at SEARCH, Gadchiroli
context_page_description: Abhay Bang and Rani Bang are Indian social activists and researchers working in the field of community health in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India. They have revolutionized healthcare for the poorest people in India and have overseen a programme that has substantially reduced infant mortality rates in one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the world. The World Health Organization and UNICEF have endorsed their approach to treating newborn babies and the programme is currently being rolled out across India and in parts of Africa. The Bangs founded the 'Society For Education, Action and Research in Community Health' – a non-profit organisation, which is involved in rural health service and research. The couple is the winner of the Maharashtra Bhushan Award. Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow has conferred honorary doctorates on Abhay and Rani Bang. SNDT Women's University, Mumbai has also awarded Honoris Causa to Rani Bang. The Lancet has honoured the couple as 'the pioneers of health care in rural India'.
context_section_description: Apart from being the founder directors of SEARCH, Abhay and Rani Bang have served on various national and state level committees. Some of them are as follows:
  Chairman, Expert Group to Plan Health Care for Tribal Populations in India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India
  Expert Member, Central Health Council, Apex Body of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
  Member, National Rural Health Mission Steering Group, Govt. of India
  Member, High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Care, Planning Commission, Govt. of India
  Member, National Commission on Macro-economics and Health, Govt. of India
  Member, Kelkar Committee on 'Regional Imbalance and Balanced Regional Development', Govt. of Maharashtra
  Member, Audit Advisory Board, Comptroller and Auditor General, Govt. of India
  Chairman, Child Mortality Evaluation Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra
  Member, National ASHA Mentoring Group, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India
  Member, High Level Committee on Status of Tribal Communities, Govt. of India
  Member, National Commission on Population, Govt. of India
  Member, Steering Committee, Tropical Disease Research, World Health Organization, Geneva
  Member, Advisory Board, Saving Newborn Lives Initiative, Save the Children, USA.
  Member, Committee on 'Improving Birth Outcome in Developing Countries' constituted by the Global Board on Health, National Academy of Science, USA
  Member, Scientist Advisory Board, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi
  Member, National Expert Group on Health for planning the 10th National Five Year Plan, Govt. of India
  Member, Governing Board, National Population Stabilization Fund, India
  Member, Planning Commission's Task Force on Panchyat Raj in Health
  Member, WHO Review Committee on Anti-fertility Vaccines
  Member, WHO Review Committee on Measuring Reproductive Morbidity
  Member, Governing Body of IIHMR(Indian Institute of Health Management and Research)
  Member, Institute of Medicine U.S. Committee on Improving Pregnancy Outcome in Underdeveloped Countries (2000 - 2001)
caption: Abhay and Rani Bang
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:04:29 13:21:30", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Manual", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "99", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "Low gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Image ExifOffset": "368", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "934", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7431", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "53/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "500", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:04:21 12:16:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:04:21 12:16:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "24/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Cloudy weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "66", "EXIF SubSecTime": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "40", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "40", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2400", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1607", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]"}