Dated: 25th July 2025
SIGMA Foundation is proud to report that two of its members – Dr. M.N.Roy, President of the organization and Dr Ankita Chakraborty, Gender and Health Specialist, attended the 30 th International Conference of the International Union for the scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) held at Brisbane, Australia from the 13 th to 18 th July 2025. Both are members of the IUSSP.
Dr Roy presented a paper (authored by Dr Roy and Dr Chakraborty) “Exploring the role of gender perceptions and practices in facilitating women-friendly development initiatives by the rural local governments of West Bengal, india” in the session on “Policy and Governance as Factors Affecting Women’s Empowerment”. The presentation was much appreciated by the participants. The paper is based on qualitative data collected from 45 elected Gram Panchayat functionaries and members of 9 Gram Panchayats across 3 districts of the state of West Bengal.
Dr Ankita Chakrabarti had a poster presentation on “The struggle for care: insights into the barriers to transgender healthcare in West Bengal, India”. This paper is based on collection of primary data from 81 transgender persons and 54 physicians. The paper is unique as it deals with the healthcare of one of the most marginalized communities who remains deprived from healthcare services and there is little understanding of the issues faced by them. The team gained experiences in attending several sessions during the conference and interacting with the researchers and organizations from across many countries of the world.