Dr Ramani Atkuri completed her post-graduate studies in community medicine from Christian Medical College, Vellore. Since then, she has worked for over three decades in rural and tribal Central India, mainly in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. She has deliberately chosen to work with not-for-profit organizations working with the most marginalized communities. She has also worked as a Project Officer, Health in Orissa and in Madhya Pradesh. During her work in Orissa, she was instrumental in helping draft the IMR reduction policy of the State. During the 1999 super-cyclone of Orissa, she was the Officer-in-Charge of the UNICEF Orissa office and led the relief and rehabilitation efforts of the organization, (including co-ordination with other UN agencies) in the aftermath of the deadly super cyclone.
After a decade with UNICEF, she went back to grass-roots work in Chhattisgarh, working with communities in the forest and forest-fringe villages of the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve.
Her support has been widely sought as a trainer for grass-roots workers for her ability to demystify medical concepts to knowledge and skills that lay persons can use. She has supported rural health organizations in Uttarakhand, UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat. She has conducted programme evaluations on behalf of the World Bank and the DFID.
She continues to work with Jan Swasthya Sahyog in Chhattisgarh, as well as provide training support to different organizations in health.
