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Dr Meenakshi Gautham

Assistant Professor

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
B-140, Ground Floor, Sushant Lok Phase 3, Sector 57
Gurugram 122011
India

I am an interdisciplinary researcher interested in the dynamics of informal health systems, where both formal and informal health actors collaborate to shape healthcare practices. Focusing on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in community settings, my work uncovers the interactions within these systems, shedding light on health system and policy barriers that impact healthcare delivery and access in resource-constrained contexts. I have led/co-led six UKRI research grants on these issues. My One Health Antibiotic Stewardship (OASIS) team in India is working on a systematic approach to evidence utilization through multi-stakeholder collaboration, facilitating the co-design of effective interventions for human and animal health within mixed health systems. By addressing conflicts of interest underlying the challenge of AMR, we aim to extend these efforts towards the design of comprehensive strategies that promote sustainable and equitable primary healthcare solutions in mixed health systems. Collaborating with partners across Africa, Asia, and South America in the AgriAMU project, I am engaged in conceptualizing people-centered policy solutions and structural frameworks aimed at establishing fair and sustainable antibiotic stewardship within community settings. I have a PhD degree in Public Health and Policy from LSHTM (2006).

Affiliations

Department of Global Health and Development
Faculty of Public Health and Policy

Centres

Antimicrobial Resistance Centre

Teaching

I am co-organiser of the Health Policy, Process and Power module, an intensive F2F module at LSHTM. I also teach on the One Health M.Sc (joint M.Sc with RVC) and contribute to the AMR short course conducted annually by LSHTM’s AMR Centre. I supervise PhD students and M.Sc. dissertations from across different streams including Public Health, Control of Infectious Diseases and One Health.

I have a concurrent teaching appointment at the University of Cambridge, Department of Public Health and Primary care, as Senior Teaching Associate focusing on Global Health, Public Health and Primary Care.

Research

My research interests include both policy and structural aspects of the private health sector, informal health systems, drivers of antibiotic use and AMR, antibiotic stewardship, and multi-stakeholder approaches to complex intervention design in resource constrained contexts. I am particularly interested in the potential of participatory methodologies, and the use of evidence and policy entrepreneurship in inclusive and complex policy and intervention co-design.

Research Area
Policy analysis
Disease and Health Conditions
Infectious diseases
Sexually transmitted infections
Country
Bangladesh
India
Tanzania
Uganda
Region
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)

Selected Publications

Pharma-cartography: Navigating the complexities of antibiotic supply to rural livestock in West Bengal, India, through value chain and power dynamic analysis
Hennessey, M; Ebata, A; Samanta, I; Mateus, A; Arnold, J-C; Day, D; GAUTHAM, M; Alarcon, P;
2023
PloS One
Crossover-Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock in Agricultural Communities: A Qualitative Cross-Country Comparison between Uganda, Tanzania and India.
Myers, J; Hennessey, M; Arnold, J-C; McCubbin, KD; Lembo, T; Mateus, A; Kitutu, FE; Samanta, I; HUTCHINSON, E; Davis, A; Mmbaga, BT; Nasuwa, F; GAUTHAM, M; CLARKE, SE;
2022
Antibiotics
"If It Works in People, Why Not Animals?": A Qualitative Investigation of Antibiotic Use in Smallholder Livestock Settings in Rural West Bengal, India.
Arnold, J-C; Day, D; Hennessey, M; Alarcon, P; GAUTHAM, M; Samanta, I; Mateus, A;
2021
ANTIBIOTICS-BASEL
Conflicts of interest: an invisible force shaping health systems and policies.
RAHMAN-SHEPHERD, A; Balasubramaniam, P; GAUTHAM, M; HUTCHINSON, E; Kitutu, FE; Marten, R; KHAN, MS;
2021
The Lancet. Global health
Harnessing the hidden workforce: informal providers in India and elsewhere
GAUTHAM, M; Lagomarsino, G;
2021
The Lancet Global Health Blog
Mobilising informal healthcare providers in India may help its response to covid-19
GAUTHAM, M; Bloom, G; Balasubramaniam, P; GOODMAN, C; Forsberg, B; Kumar, A;
2020
The BMJopinion
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