Monday, October 31 2005 12:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Two Indian doctors, who devised a novel programme for bringing down infant mortality rate in rural areas of South Asia, have been named heroes of Global Health by the Time Magazine.

Abhay and Rani Bang, founders of the Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health, are among 18 heroes of Global Health named by the magazine for their work in solving health problems in the developing world.

The health programme, adopted in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and parts of Africa, cut child mortality in half for a cost of only 2.64 US dollar for each child saved, the magazine said in a citation.

The other heroes are from Bolivia, China, Cambodia, Congo, Honduras, Kenya, Nepal, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Swaziland, Britain and the United States.

"We were looking for people who had pioneered innovative ways to improve the health of poor people around the world," Time Science Editor Philip Elmer-DeWitt said.

"To our surprise, wherever we looked, we found them- from an ex-motorbike racer who dispatched hundreds of sidecar-equipped motorcycles across Africa for use as mini-ambulances to a Thai economist who championed condom use among Bangkok sex workers and headed off what could have been a devastating outbreak of HIV/AIDS.

"The great thing about these projects is that they can be replicated and scaled up-and inspire even more pioneering approaches to improving health worldwide," he added.