Exploring peer learning methods in online environment
Application of the peer learning principles in the field of education has a long history. Lot of research has been done by psychologists, sociologists and educators on this and results have been positive. Peer learning has been seen as an effective methodology...
How can Jharkhand improve its maternal mortality rates?
Maternal death is defined as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from...
Moving towards inclusive healthcare for migrants in India
According to the 2011 census, approximately 400m of India’s 1.21bn population are “internal migrants.” These migrant communities in Indian cities constitute a large proportion of people living in urban slums. Some of them have migrated from rural to urban...
The unaffordability of cancer treatment in India
It was estimated that nearly one million new cases of cancers will have been diagnosed in India by 2015, of which 0.67 million people are expected to die of conditions related to cancer. Cancer of the mouth and lungs in men, and cervix and breast cancer in...
Would India be prepared if there was another swine flu outbreak?
The swine flu epidemic caused by a new strain of the influenza A (H1N1) virus became a public health problem in India in 2014 for the second time in the last decade. In 2009, it was categorised as a pandemic by the Indian government and all public health centres were...
A lack of resources for community health nursing in India
Shortage of nurses and its impact on the Indian health care delivery system remains a major concern to this day. Adding to the above problem there is an undersupply of competent public health nurses who are willing to serve in the resource-limited community health...
Individual Reflection Internship at Institute of Public Health: By Lotte Boonen
The honours programme of Maastricht University has a cooperation with the Institute of Public Health(IPH) in India. We, a group of 9 students, are doing a research for the Institute of Public Health about the human resources for health in India. We were invited by IPH...
Individual feedback- Thoughts about our field visits and the health system in India: By Lion Lehmann
In the time span from the 17th of August to the 28th August, we had the chance to see some of the institutions of the Indian health system and talk to some of the important stakeholders. In the subsequent informal report, I will review my experiences. The report will...
Individual reflection internship IPH: By Esther Boudewijns
Although we are already back in the Netherlands for one and a half week, I am still not totally used to it: Dutch food, no honking on the road and a lot of rain instead of the Indian sun. When people ask what the most impressive thing I have done was, it is difficult...
IPH staff attend a regional course on Good Health Research Practice
Dr. Arun Jithendra, Dr. Praveen Aivalli and Dr. Samantha Lobbo, attended a four day regional course on Good Health Research Practice (GHRP) by the Regional Training Center, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia from July 27th - 30th, 2015. The regional course...
Managing Hypertension and Diabetes in Resource Poor Settings:- By Bheemaray V M
According to the Diabetes Atlas 2006, the number of people with diabetes in India is currently around 40.9 million and is expected to rise to 69.9 million by 2025. Similarly, 118 million people were estimated to have high blood pressure in the year 2000, which is...
Internship at the Institute of Public Health, Bangalore: By Hanna Schenck
During my summer of the year 2015, I had the great opportunity to visit the Institute of Public Health in Bangalore and to explore the Indian health system during a few days. During the first half of my internship, I was confronted with the great complexity of the...
ART centres in Uttarakhand: Some reflections from the field: By Supriya Chand
One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to control the spread of HIV/AIDS. This puts a continuing concern on improving health services. Many projects are run by the government to address these concerns effectually. One such program is operation of...
Right to clean air: By Ajeet Pal Singh
The effects of air pollution on the lungs and heart are now widely appreciated, with more incriminating evidence of its role in cardiac disease. Air quality is represented by the annual mean concentration of fine particulate matter: PM10 and PM2.5, referring to...
Coaching 40 students from 25 countries at ITM – Antwerp
Dr N. Devadasan was invited by the ITM Antwerp to help coach their MPH students on local health systems. He was there for the whole month of Sept 2015. It was a great learning opportunity as he was able to interact with health professionals from 25 different countries...
How secure is India’s National Food Security Act? : by Manoj Kumar
Recently food security provisions in India has improved and not surprisingly the country is operating one of the largest food safety nets in the World. However regarding figures related to malnutrition particularly chronic malnutrition, the country is at very poor...
e-learning course on Public Health Management 2015
e-learning course on Public Health Management 2015 After successfully managing three consecutive batches for the online course in Public Health Management (e-PHM), we kick started the fourth batch on 19th of August 2015. This batch brings along with it 31 amazing...
TB Stigma in India- a harsh reality even after five decades of a TB control Programme
In India, tuberculosis (TB) is still a major public health problem. In this blog, the author reflects on the stigma and discrimination faced by TB patients and how it affects their health seeking behaviour. Link to Munegowda CM blog in BMJ can be found...
Breastfeeding practices and child nutrition in India: By Manoj Kumar Patti
Many of us are aware that the importance of breastfeeding in child growth and nutrition.But have we ever wondered, in a developing country like India where many mothers are now into formal or informal work, why is it important to have a mother-friendly...
Generating demand for Health programmes leading to its success: an example of Tuberculosis from northern India: By Moumita Biswas
In India, only 20% people with minor illness, and only 50% people with serious illness come to Government hospitals. Thus, there is a need to understand the reasons influencing health care seeking practices to generate demand for health programmes. Amongst rural and...
Role of NRCs (Nutrition Rehabilitation centre) in preventing malnutrition related deaths among under 5 children in Odisha: By Niranjan Bariyar
Introduction Acute malnutrition or wasting is a failure to gain weight or actual weight loss caused by inadequate food intake, incorrect feeding practices, infections or a combination of these. Considered both a medical and social disorder, Severe Acute Malnutrition...
Harnessing ICT in health care services in India: By Ajay Goel
India with a current population of 1.25 billion is posed to be the highest populated country with 1.6 billion by 2050. Indian public health planners have a huge challenge ahead - to serve and keep population healthy. Health care service resources will not increase in...
Recent advances in Mobile Diagnostics: By Hardik Panchal
The term Medical Devices, as defined in the Food and Drugs Act, covers a wide range of health or medical instruments used in the treatment, mitigation, diagnosis or prevention of a disease or abnormal physical condition. Medical devices are useful for easy diagnostics...
Dr. Devadasan in Nagaland to orient the Government on Health Financing (10-08-2015 to 14-08-2015)
Community Volunteers/Health workers – contribution in improving health services: By Jatinder Chhatwal
As we all know and recognise that community health workers (CHW) are the part of the community and have a significant role to play for our health improvement. There is plenty of scientific evidence wherein community involvement has increased the reach and impact of...
Health Promotion- Rethinking Our Disease Control Strategy: By Janelle de Sa
Health has long been defined as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity ’. This clearly implies the need for promoting ‘holistic’ well-being and comprehensive healthcare that enables people to...
Road Traffic Injuries-An Ignored Public Health Issue in India
(Photo Credits- Biswarup Ganguly) The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.24 million road traffic deaths occur every year globally. Of those, the majority (80%) of deaths occur only in middle income countries.Road traffic injuries are never considered a...
Health Financing – A snapshot of the ePHM course classroom
The institute has been providing an online platform for learning for the past two years. We introduced the online course on public health management for professionals and beginners across the country to gain an understanding of how to be good public health...
How can researchers meet community needs?
This article originally appeared on BMJ Blogs on April 24, 2015 under the same title. This blog is my reflection on regular field visits as part of the urban health action research project that I am currently working on. The field site for the project is a very poor...
Institute of Public Health at KEYSTONE
KEYSTONE is a collective initiative of several Indian health policy and systems research (HPSR) organizations to strengthen and build national capacity in HPSR. KEYSTONE was convened by the Public Health Foundation of India as Nodal Institute for the Alliance for...