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{{Short description|Indian epidemiologist, public health professional and diplomat}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Swarup Sarkar
| image = Swarup Sarkar (স্বরূপ সরকার).jpg
| occupation = [[Epidemiologist]], [[public health]] professional and [[diplomat]]
Past Director of Communicable Diseases, South East Asia Regional Office, [[World Health Organization|WHO]]<ref name=":0"/>
| employer = [[Indian Council of Medical Research]], [[WHO]], [[UNAIDS]], [[Asian Development Bank]], [[The Global Fund]]
| known_for = Public Health Advocacy for HIV/AIDS
| education = [[MBBS]], [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]], [[Master of Surgery|MS]]
| alma_mater = [[Medical College Kolkata]]
[[Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University]]
[[UCLA Fielding School of Public Health]] at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA)
| parents =
}}

'''Swarup Sarkar''' is an [[Indian people|Indian]] [[Epidemiology|epidemiologist]], [[public health|public health professional]] and [[diplomat]] known for his work in the field of [[Infection|Infectious Diseases]]<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/who-felicitates-dr-swarup-sarkar-for-his-contribution-to-public-health/articleshow/67203097.cms|title=WHO felicitates Dr Swarup Sarkar for his contribution to public health|date=22 December 2018|website=The Times of India}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/my+medical+mantra+english-epaper-medmanen/who+commends+dr+swarup+sarkar+for+his+contribution+to+the+field+of+public+health-newsid-104672283|title=WHO commends Dr Swarup Sarkar for his contribution to the field of public health – My Medical Mantra English|website=Dailyhunt|access-date=18 April 2019}}</ref> and [[HIV/AIDS]] in particular.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=https://ph.ucla.edu/news/magazine/2013/june/article/acting-boldly-dispatches-hivaids-battlefield|title=Acting Boldly: Dispatches from the HIV/AIDS Battlefield {{!}} Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health|website=ph.ucla.edu|access-date=18 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/12/17/indias-plague|title=India's Plague|last=Specter|first=Michael|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2001-12-10|access-date=2019-04-23|issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

He retired as the Director of Communicable diseases at the World Health Organization, South East Asia regional Office ([[SEARO|WHO SEARO]]) in November 2018.<Sarkar has been awarded for his contribution in Public Health by [[World Health Organization|World Health Organization (WHO)]] in 2018.<ref name=":0 / name=:2">{{cite web|url=https://tech2.org/india/who-congratulates-dr-swarup-sarkar-for-his-contribution-to-public-health-india-news/|title=WHO congratulates Dr. Swarup Sarkar for his contribution to public health: India News|date=October 2018|website=tech2.org|access-date=2019-04-18|archive-date=20 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420223037/https://tech2.org/india/who-congratulates-dr-swarup-sarkar-for-his-contribution-to-public-health-india-news/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Prior to his role in the [[World Health Organization|WHO]], he has served as the Head of South Asia and Regional Advisor of the Asia Pacific region of the [[Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS|UNAIDS]]<ref name=":9">{{cite web|url=https://slideplayer.com/slide/8941609/|title=Is AIDS Financing dying in Asia ? Swarup Sarkar Senior Adviser, UNAIDS, Geneva ICAAP, Busan, August ppt download|last=Sarkar|first=Swarup|access-date=16 April 2019}}</ref> and Director of Asia Pacific Country Programs of [[The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria|The Global Fund]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/tb/challenges/hiv/21_sarkar_gf_tbgrants.pdf?ua=1|title=Global Fund TB Grants in Asia and the Pacific|last=Sarkar|first=Swarup|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sarkar|first=Swarup|date=2010-02-01|title=Community engagement in HIV prevention in Asia: going from 'for the community' to 'by the community'—must we wait for more evidence?|journal=Sexually Transmitted Infections|volume=86|issue=Suppl 1|pages=i2–i3|doi=10.1136/sti.2009.039289|pmid=20167726|pmc=3252600|issn=1368-4973|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Education==
Sarkar was an alumnus of the AIDS International Research and Training Program from the [[UCLA Fielding School of Public Health]], University of California, Los Angeles ([[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]]).<ref name=":4" />

==Professional career and contribution==
Sarkar joined the [[Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS|Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)]] in 1998, and served UNAIDS at various roles for a decade, from being an Epidemiologist stationed in [[Geneva]], to being the Team Leader of UNAIDS, [[South Asia]] and Regional Adviser to the [[Asia-Pacific|Asia Pacific region]].<ref name=":9" /><ref>{{cite journal |title=AIDS vaccine research in Asia: needs and opportunities |journal=AIDS |date=July 1999 |volume=13 |issue=11 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1097/00002030-199907300-00020 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Sarkar's [[Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS|UNAIDS]] group pushed [[South Asia|South Asian countries]] to focus prevention services for the marginalized groups in ways which were not traditional in the field.<ref name=":4" /> He proposed and formed self-run services by the high risk communities and is recognized to create an enabling environment by breaking the barriers that obstruct people from accessing essential services.<ref name=":10">{{cite journal|vauthors=Sarkar S|date=February 2010|title=Community engagement in HIV prevention in Asia: going from 'for the community' to 'by the community'--must we wait for more evidence?|journal=Sexually Transmitted Infections|volume=86 Suppl 1|issue=Suppl 1|pages=i2-3|doi=10.1136/sti.2009.039289|pmc=3252600|pmid=20167726}}</ref> He has advocated for political commitment, acceptance of the HIV problem by the Governments, allocation of resources, mitigation of stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and an all-inclusive approach for target group identification, prevention and care.<ref name=":8">{{cite web|url=https://www.michaelspecter.com/2001/12/indias-plague/|title=India's Plague « Michael Specter, author of "Denialism"|access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.hivpolicy.org/Library/HPP000260.pdf|title=National Consultation on HIV/AIDS and the media|last=UNDP HIV & Development Project, South and Southwest Asia|publisher=UNDP HIV & Development Project, South and Southwest Asia|date=8 June 2001|location=New Delhi|page=42|archive-date=21 May 2021|access-date=18 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521075453/https://www.hivpolicy.org/Library/HPP000260.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Before returning to UNAIDS again in 2011, Sarkar worked with the [[Asian Development Bank]] and [[The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria|The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria]]. In 2015, Sarkar joined the [[World Health Organization|World Health Organization (WHO)]] as the Director of [[Communicable diseases]] for its [[Southeast Asia|South East Asian Regional Office (SEARO)]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Swarup_Sarkar7|title=Researchgate profile: Swarup Sarkar|last=Researchgate}}</ref>

His works have shown that sex inequality and education for women and girls are strongly associated factors for HIV infection, emphasizing that the vulnerability of young women needs to be reduced by measures to improve access to schooling and education in [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] and [[reproductive health]].<ref name=":182">{{cite journal | vauthors = Lubega M, Nakyaanjo N, Nansubuga S, Hiire E, Kigozi G, Nakigozi G, Lutalo T, Nalugoda F, Serwadda D, Gray R, Wawer M, Kennedy C, Reynolds SJ | title = Risk Denial and Socio-Economic Factors Related to High HIV Transmission in a Fishing Community in Rakai, Uganda: A Qualitative Study | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 10 | issue = 8 | article-number = e0132740 | date = 26 August 2015 | pmid = 26309179 | pmc = 4550390 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0132740 | bibcode = 2015PLoSO..1032740L | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Sarkar's main activities were centered around the reduction in stigma as a part of prevention interventions within activities meant to reduce transmission among sex workers, injection drug users, [[Men who have sex with men|MSM]] and their partners. These activities, referred to as '<nowiki />''enablers''<nowiki />', were required to create an enabling environment for these groups by removing barriers to access to services. These include the timing of services (for example, evening rather than daytime for sex workers), [[community ownership]] (for example, MSM, IDU or sex workers running their own clinics), removing disincentives caused by [[Police misconduct|police harassment]] or [[violence]] and addressing other hindrances (for example, creches to look after children of sex workers while they attend clinics or those of IDUs in deaddiction services).<ref name=":10" /><ref name="pmid28275448">{{cite journal|vauthors=Rezwan K, Khan HS, Azim T, Pendse R, Sarkar S, Kumarasamy N|date=November 2016|title=A success story: identified gaps and the way forward for low HIV prevalence in Bangladesh|journal=Journal of Virus Eradication|volume=2|issue=Suppl 4|pages=32–34|doi=10.1016/S2055-6640(20)31097-9|pmc=5337411|pmid=28275448}}</ref><ref name=":182" />

He has openly criticized the harassment of gay population, [[sex worker]]s, and drug users, which were culturally widely common across the entire region of South East Asia.<ref name=":132">{{cite book|title=Creating Environments that Care: Interventions for HIV Prevention and Support for Vulnerable Populations: Policy Project (USAID) and UNAIDS|last1=Jenkins|first1=C|last2=Sarkar|first2=S|publisher=UNAIDS|year=2004}}</ref> He established that fear of ill treatment by the health-care staff causes many HIV-infected women in the region not to disclose their [[Diagnosis of HIV/AIDS|HIV status]],<ref name="Experiences of HIV Positive Mothers">{{cite journal | vauthors = Subramaniyan A, Sarkar S, Roy G, Lakshminarayanan S | title = Experiences of HIV Positive Mothers From Rural South India during Intra-Natal Period | journal = Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research | volume = 7 | issue = 10 | pages = 2203–6 | date = October 2013 | pmid = 24298476 | pmc = 3843428 | doi = 10.7860/JCDR/2013/5782.3471 }}</ref> which has led to significant delay in care-seeking behavior of the infected mother and led to significant transmission of HIV infection to the new-borns.<ref name="Experiences of HIV Positive Mothers"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Swarup}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Indian epidemiologists]]
[[Category:Indian public health doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:Hindu School, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Indian HIV/AIDS activists]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Kolkata]]

Swarup Sarkar - Revision history

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