These posts are all in this one category.
Anoopa's dad recently found a letter from Anoopa in a box of old papers. He wanted to share the letter, which she wrote to him just prior to her graduation from Duke in 2002. From Dennis:
The letter makes a very important point about Anoopa's very warm, kind and loving personality. Although she and I corresponded frequently by e-mails and talked on phone, she took the time and wrote to me about her true feelings. I enjoyed reading the card and the letter often even when she was present among us. Now that she is no more, these have become invaluable treasures.
Hope you all are o.k. and praying for her peace and
happiness... wherever she might be.
To view a larger version of the letter, click on the small image, then click on the full letter, and then zoom in on the full-size image.
I just realized a post I tried to make in December never went live. Apologies for the late news, but here it is!
In May a paper Anoopa wrote on her work in Bangladesh was published. You can find it on the Bio Info Bank Library, and here's the abstract:
Trop Med Int Health. 2006 May;11:757-64
The economic impact of visceral leishmaniasis on households in BangladeshAuthors: D Anoopa Sharma, Caryn Bern, Beena Varghese, Rajib Chowdhury, Rashidul Haque, Mustakim Ali, Josef Amann, Indu B Ahluwalia, Yukiko Wagatsuma, Robert F Breiman, James H Maguire, Deborah A McFarland
Summary Objectives To explore current patterns of diagnosis and treatment, quantify household economic impact and identify household strategies to cover the costs of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) care in rural Bangladesh. Method Structured interviews with 113 VL patients from 87 households documenting all provider visits and expenditures for health care for VL, and the ways in which the expenditures were covered. Results Patients paid a median of 7 visits to six different providers before beginning VL treatment. All visited the subdistrict government hospital at least once. While health care, including antileishmanial drug therapy, is officially available free of charge at government facilities, 79% of patients reported making informal payments for provider access, diagnostics and drug administration; only 14% of patients received their full drug course from this source. For the 58% of patients who purchased the full treatment course, drug cost constituted 34% of direct expenditure. Median direct expenditure for one VL patient was US$87 and median income lost was $40; median total expenditure was 1.2 times annual per capita income of our study population. Households employed multiple coping strategies to cover expenditures, most commonly sale or rental of assets (62%) and taking out loans (64%). Conclusions Visceral leishmaniasis treatment causes a major economic burden in affected families. Control strategies for VL should facilitate timely, affordable diagnosis and treatment of patients to decrease the infection reservoir and to alleviate the economic burden of VL on households.
Congrats, Anoopa!
For You I Never Met.
I read a story about a girl intent on saving the world But she only got a few years to visit, to hold children, to desire Justice and to muse while walking dusty village roads of her fathers people wondering if she could live the life She saw. I stared at photos of a girl brilliant and shining as the sun breaking barriers with her smile and spirit and restless hands bigger than the Taj Mahal. And now she makes me restless with my days and my faith and my understanding of things, but encouraged, inspired, moved to follow. I read a story about a girl I wish I had known. Jan. 13th 2007/Annonymous
The Atrauli School for Girls' new Anoopa Hall--a beautiful new space inspired, planned, funded, and built thanks to Project Anoopa--was inaugurated in December 2006. Anoopa Hall is huge and will be used in three ways: as a computer lab, a library, and an all-pupose meeting room. Project Anoopa also gave the school a new four faucet sink area for drinking water replacing an old handpump.
Anoopa's parents Dennis and Anita and her sister Uttama attended the dedication ceremony. 790 young female students and staff from the school also participated in the events. Dennis's sister performed the pooja and havan in front of the fire, and Uttama performed the tape cutting and unvieled a marble plaque hung in the Hall that reads, "In Memory of Anoopa Sharma, 7/9/1980-14/3/2005."
Most important, we want to thank all of you who helped us in this endeavor via prayers, well wishes, suggestions, time, efforts and generous donations. The next phase of the project involves installing collapsible walls to divide the space as well as building the library's collection and equipping the computer room with computers and furniture. Please keep memories of your dear friend Anoopa in your heart and help us keep this project on track. Your suggestions and support are always welcome.
--Anita Sharma
Your donations are still needed. Thank you for your support!
86 photos
Lots of photos with Anoopa! Let us know if you have more to share.
We'll be adding photos to this album as we collect them. Newly posted photos will appear first.
