Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research (PUKAR) is a research collective in Mumbai, India. The word “pukar” means to “call out” in Hindi. The project utilizes urban youth researchers to document the links between poverty, health and social equity.

Worldview visited PUKAR in 2015 when we took Global Activism series on the road. One PUKAR initiative is the “Barefoot Researcher” project. Young people from slum communities research and document community challenges like poor water quality, suicide, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.

We’ll get an update from PUKAR Executive Director Anita Patil-Deshmukh. A pediatrician and former neonatologist professor in Chicago for over two decades, Patil-Deshmukh returns to Chicago to share with us her plans to replicate PUKAR’s work in some of Chicago’s most underserved neighborhoods.