Luna Dewan wrote in Deccan Chronicle about a study conducted by Institute of Public Health. It is about how youngsters perceive smokers/smoking in Karnataka. Study highlights the link between positive perceptions of smoking and likelihood of taking up tobacco by youngsters. It also suggests need to move beyond just health impacts of smoking while creating awareness among young people.
Mass media is a proven tool to reach out to larger public. IPH commonly uses print and broadcasting media. At IPH, faculty members network with journalists, send out press notes/releases, hold press conferences and occasionally write in print and electronic media. Please click on relevant icons to read/watch stories by IPH or citing IPH.
IPH through policy briefs aims to inform policy making by providing relevant evidence for healthy public policies. This section is still under construction. For complete details on policy briefs by IPH, please contact us at 91-80-26421929 OR write to us at mail@iphindia.org
IPH networks with relevant stakeholders in health and forms/associates with strategic coalitions on specific health issues/domains. Activities through these partnerships ranges from information sharing to collaborative advocacy. IPH has been associated with following major networks on public health issues.
The Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC) is a coalition of organizations and individuals working in the areas of advocacy, awareness and research related to tobacco control in India. The AFTC members include public health experts, health professionals, research scientists and officers from Indian NGOs. The main goal of the AFTC is to work in a coordinated manner on tobacco control advocacy at the national and regional levels. IPH is an associate member of AFTC since 2007.
Indian Health Economics and Policy Association (IHEPA) is the network of organisations created to enable economists and other social science researchers, policymakers and practitioners to exchange, deliberate and discuss key issues and strategies in the health sector, in India as well as globally. IPH is a founding member of IHEPA.
Switching International Health Policies and Systems (SWIHPS) is an umbrella network of regional networks by organisations from different parts of the world working on health system issues. SWIHPS is coordinated by the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. This network disseminate and exchange information, expertise and practice in International Health Policies (IHP) and Health Systems (HS), to contribute to stronger health systems and improved policy making. IPH is an active member of the network.
LINQED educational network(learning together on quality in education in clinical, public and international health) was started in November 2008. It has 14 member institutions from across the world. The main objective of the network is to contribute to the improvement of human and animal health and to support the rational basis and country ownership of health care systems and policies in developing countries by strengthening postgraduate training capacity in clinical, public and international health. IPH is a member of this network and is currently on the executive committee board.
Peoples’ Health Movement (PHM) is a global network of grassroots health activists, civil society organizations and academic institutions particularly from developing countries. PHM currently has bases in more than 70 countries that include both individuals and well-established circles with their own governance structures. IPH is associated with the Jana Arogya Andolana, a Karnataka state chapter of Peoples’ Health Movement.
The Medico Friend Circle (MFC) is a nation-wide platform of secular, pluralist, and pro–people, pro-poor health practitioners, scientists and social activists interested in the health problems of the people of India.
Mobilizing community or social groups is one of the key strategy in public health advocacy. IPH alone or in collaboration with various networks/coalition organizes campaigns/activities to mobilize specific social groups on specific public health issues. Such campaigns, apart from raising public awareness, bring in public voice on the concerned public health issues.
Signature Campaign Anti-tobacco Walkathon Painting Competition
This project was implemented in collaboration with the Gramin Shikshan Charity Foundation (an NGO based in Hubli, Karnataka) across seven districts – three northern and four southern Karnataka districts. Project aim was to study effect of district level capacity building of law enforcement officials and tobacco control advocacy on implementation of selected provisions of national tobacco control legislation. Five districts, namely, Tumkur, Ramanagaram, Mysore, Dharwad & Gadag, were taken as intervention districts while two districts – Bengaluru rural and Haveri – were taken as control districts. In the course of one year, state and district level need assessment surveys as well as pre-compliance monitoring exercises were conducted in all seven districts highlighting the needs of district level law enforcement officials as well as the status of implementation of tobacco control law in these districts.
