MENAKA RAO

Azamgarh, Udaipur, New Delhi:
As a girl growing up in small-town Uttar Pradesh, Pooja wanted to “get ahead in life”. She wanted to be a working woman, earn a comfortable living, and get out of the confines of her village. But her marriage soon after graduation--when she was just 21--paused her plans.
Pooja, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, lives in Azamgarh’s Atraulia block and has two sons, aged seven and 12 years. “I was stuck taking care of two children,” she said. But s...

Abortion is legal in India with certain conditions. But it is hard to access in many parts of the country, especially in rural India. An estimated eight women die every day from unsafe abortions in India.

This series, called Matter of Choice, will explore how women face medical, legal and social barriers to abortion.

New Delhi and Patna: India has hit the elimination target for Kala-azar, a parasitic disease in 2024, but a drug used to treat the skin manifestation of Kala-azar is being linked to eye problems, including blindness.

Miltefosine is given to patients with Post-Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL), which is a skin manifestation of Kala-azar. Kala-azar itself is a neglected tropical disease, which is fatal if not treated. PKDL, which affects about 5-10% of treated Kala-azar patients, is seeming...

New Delhi: When the 27-year-old pregnant woman and her husband came to advocate Amit Mishra on October 2, they had already gone to several doctors and hospitals both in Delhi and neighbouring Haryana hoping to get an abortion. She was a little more than 24 weeks pregnant, and had crossed the deadline set by the country’s abortion law.

The woman, a mother of two boys, was at her wits end. She had severe postpartum psychosis after her second child was born, and did not feel she could sustain an...

In the Red is a mini-series in the Suno India Show on the blood supply shortages in the country, particularly in rural India. The reporting for this series is supported by Turuga Foundation that awarded Menaka Rao the Narender Revelli National Media Fellowship, 2021. Menaka Rao travelled to parts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to report on how the insufficient supply of blood in the blood bank hampers the health of people living in the district, particularly when there is just a single blood bank in the district.

Gasping for Breath Season 2 is a deep-dive reported narrative podcast series on Long Covid in India. This series is an oral archive of the experiences of Long Haulers. It is the first podcast dedicated to Long Covid in India

Priya Ramani spoke up during 2018’s MeToo movement. A Union minister filed a criminal case against her. The consequences were severe—but also offered hope for the future.
Room 203 of Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court is often used for high-profile defamation matters against politicians and journalists. On the afternoon of 11 December 2019, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Vishal Pahuja was hearing a case involving two senior journalists. One of them was also a former Union minister. But even...

I produced India's first podcast on the state of tuberculosis and its treatment in India called ‘Gasping for Breath.' I worked on 14 episodes, ranging from history of tuberculosis in India, the rise of drug resistance, stigma and gender, among others.

Co-reported, produced and edited a three-part series on love-jihad in India

India's grinding national coronavirus lockdown complicated life for women trying to access safe abortions, and now cities are bringing back restrictions, reports Menaka Rao.
In the last week of May, a 20-year old college-going woman in India's capital, Delhi, found out that she was pregnant.
The woman, Kiran, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, had already taken abortion pills on the advice of a friend who was a doctor. But they did not work and so, her only option was a surg...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the ensuing lockdown, TB patients are unable to seek diagnosis or treatment. TB kills 1200 patients per day in India

In the race to control the COVID-19, ASHA workers have been deployed to go into their community, identity migrants, and ensure they remain quarantined and follow social distancing norms. But ASHA workers themselves barely have any protection or training related to COVID-19. They are irate that the government has not provided any facility for them during this pandemic, except death insurance.

A detailed story about the plight of ASHA workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

‘Gasping for Breath’, is India’s first podcast on state of tuberculosis and it’s treatment in India hosted by senior health journalist Menaka Rao.

In the first episode, we go back in time to understand the emergence of this deadly disease. Menaka will also tell you about the wild myths surrounding the disease and much more.

This is a series about Kerala's unique TB programme which has reduced the incidence of the disease significantly. The state is now talking about eliminating the disease which is ravaging the entire country.