Chhavi Sachdev

Neha Vyaso is one of the most successful intimacy co-ordinators in Bollywood. She has worked with some of Bollywood's biggest names, including actors Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone and Konkona Sen Sharma, and directors like Hansal Mehta. Having worked on more than 50 projects for clients including Netflix, Amazon and Tinder, she is reshaping how sex and desire is shown on screen - and how it is filmed. We join her in a workshop with two actors, who are getting comfortable with each other, their roles, and the techniques of consent and conversation that Neha is an advocate of. Presented by me

For the last few weeks, the news has been dominated by the situation in the Middle East. Joining Claudia Hammond is BBC Health Correspondent James Gallagher. And India's snakebite crisis is killing near sixty thousand people every year, about six people every hour. Journalist Chhavi Sachdev joins us to discuss the progress of India’s National Action Plan to tackle snakebite envenoming which launched two years ago.
Image: Tushar Mone, CC

Cities are getting bigger - and louder. As urban noise increases, we look at how sound itself can be used to make things feel quieter. Myra Anubi visits an audio lab in London to experience immersive soundscapes for herself and then hears how a park in Montreal, Canada uses sounds from the ocean to sooth urban stress. And we hear about 2 campaigners' hopes for making a difference in one of the noisiest countries of them all, India with Chhavi Sachdev

The Winter Olympics has the Unexpected Elements team looking into some of the incredible science behind the sports. First up, the tale of India’s lone luge pilot: how did using old train tracks as sled runners give him a competitive edge? Then, we look at the physics behind a cheating scandal that has rocked the ski jumping world.

Did you know there are different types of ice? Professor Christoph Salzmann has discovered three of them, and tells us what makes them unique. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Chhavi Sachdev and Tristan Ahtone

CrowdScience listener Namrata and presenter Chhavi Sachdev have something in common. They both get more tanned in the summer in the United States than back home in India. Namrata wants to know why she came back from her run in Boston with such a deep tan and doesn’t have the same experience in India. She’s got quite a few theories herself and wonders if it’s to do with the angle of the sun, pollution or humidity.

Chhavi talks to dermatologist Neelam Vashi, who’s based in Boston, to find out h...

This week on Somewhere on Earth, we explore two groundbreaking ideas: taking back control of your online creativity and transforming fast-fashion waste with the power of fungi.
1️⃣ Rebuilding a Human Internet & 2️⃣ Mushrooms vs. Fast Fashion
Rabble (Evan Henshaw-Plath), Co-creator of Nostr Divine Rabble, Twitter’s first engineer, unveils Divine + we talk about turning fungi and other creatures into fabric - with Chhavi Sachdev & Ania Lichtarovicz

Drones, AI and a radically targeted approach to malaria prevention - this week Ania speaks with Mary Yeboah Ansawa from Ghana’s Sora Technology about locating larvae-filled puddles before mosquitoes grow up to bite, we dive into how this tech could reshape malaria control across Africa.
India’s TB Breakthrough—And a Privacy Storm. In Mumbai Chhavi Sachdev updates us on new TB diagnostics that swap messy sputum tests for simple oral swabs—faster, safer and far more accessible. Then: why India’s plan to preload every new phone with a government cyber-security app sparked a nationwide backlash

What are the best ways to stop the spread of infectious diseases? One key element is diagnostics. For diseases like tuberculosis, there are millions of people unaware that they have the disease. So, improving diagnostic tests and making them accessible are critical.

Thankfully, new scientific breakthroughs could dramatically improve rapid TB diagnostic tests. These tools may soon transform countries like India, where the toll of TB looms large.
Reporting from Mumbai, India, journalist Chhavi Sachdev reports on a new network that vets tools and helps test and scale them.

Last week attempts at cloud seeding to reduce pollution in Delhi failed to produce any rain. We catch up with reporter Chhavi Sachdev to find out more about official’s latest and controversial attempt at tacking hazardous levels of air pollution in the city.

The Maldives have become the first country to ban smoking for younger generations with no one born on or after 1 January 2007 being able to buy tobacco products.

What do the public know about the cancer risks of alcohol? Dr Sanjay Shete explains his research comparing the real risks to public awareness.

Tuberculosis claimed more than 1.25 million lives in 2023, overtaking COVID as the world’s deadliest infectious disease. For the last century, there has been a vaccine protecting children from TB. Now, there is hope for a new solution: a potential vaccine for adolescents and adults.

On this episode of The Threshold, journalist Chhavi Sachdev interviews Soumya Swaminathan, principal advisor on tuberculosis for the health ministry of India and former World Health Organization chief scientist, about what is needed to end TB as an epidemic

In one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Mumbai, a quiet transformation is underway. Govandi has long been associated with poverty and poor health outcomes. But with the help of a civic organisation, the community has built vibrant spaces with children and women in mind— libraries, workshops, and leisure zones—defying the norms of city planning that can overlook such needs. We explore how trust, persistence, and grassroots collaboration turned a neglected area into a model for urban resilience and enjoyment.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter/producer: Chhavi Sachdev
Editor: Jon Bithrey

Milk: drink a lot of it and we’ll grow big and tall with strong bones. That’s what many people are told as children, but just how true is this accepted wisdom? CrowdScience listener JJ in Singapore is sceptical. He wants to live a healthy life for as long as possible, and he’s wondering whether drinking cow’s milk will help or hinder him on this mission.

Presenter Chhavi Sachdev the lowdown on just how fundamental this is for our health.

All mammals produce milk, and our mother’s milk is our very first drink as babies. Is it really good for bones? longevity? Listen!

In India, how can gorgeous flowers offered in a temple or gathered to decorate a wedding be an environmental problem? Chhavi Sachdev discovers that the practice of disposing of the spent flowers, thousands of tonnes of the them daily, into rivers and lakes causes major pollution and literally suffocates waterborne life. The problem is made worse by the fact that the flowers are sprayed with pesticides in the field so are yet more toxic when discarded. Listen to know about an innovative scheme, to dry the flowers and return them to the worship cycle ;)

A gene has been identified that is critical for regulating pain signals. Professor David Bennett, head of Clinical Neurology at Oxford, who led the research explains.

BBC Africa’s health correspondent Dorcas Wangira joins Claudia to delve into a decade-long research programme that found child mortality rates almost halved when poorer families in Kenya were given $1000 unconditionally.

Chhavi Sachdev follows up on previous reporting in India about rabies after a government efforts to curtail rising rabies infections from stray dog bites has caused mass uproar.