LifeFirst – Consultancy Project with Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation

by | Jul 20, 2020 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Latest Updates

A team from the Chronic Health Conditions and Public Policies cluster at IPH had undertaken a consultancy project with Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation and Salaam Bombay Foundation. This project involved the evaluation of the LifeFirst program, a standardized tobacco- and supari- cessation program conceived and implemented by the Salaam Bombay Foundation and Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation since 2012. The Program targets students studying in 7th to 9th grades in corporation (local government) funded/managed schools in Mumbai city.


The study design, a prospective quasi-experimental design, was conceptualised by researchers Upendra and Pragati at IPH and the program was implemented by the team in Mumbai. The analysis of the study data was led by Amiti with the support of Upendra and Pragati and we found that the program was indeed effective, where the program not only reduced the rates of tobacco and supari use significantly, but also served as a protective factor, protecting against new uptake of tobacco and supari use. This is an important finding: schools are an excellent site for health promotion activities but are rarely used as much as they should and furthermore, such school programs are rarely evaluated for their effectiveness. This collaborative study delivers on both, the health promotion program and the evaluation of this program. The present consultancy was closed with the completion of the project and submission of the final report. We look forward to further collaboration with the team at Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation & Salaam Bombay Foundation.

National Summit on Tobacco or Health – 2020

National Summit on Tobacco or Health – 2020

by | Jul 13, 2020 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Latest Updates

On May 29th, 2020 the National Summit was held virtually, the main theme was on “Protecting youth from industry manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use” , and organised “by Resource Centre for Tobacco Control (E-RCTC), PGIMER Chandigarh in collaboration with Strategic Institute of Public Health Education and Research (SIPHER), Chandigarh and The Union South-East Asia (The Union).” The summit (schedule accessible here) was intended to train public health professionals and tobacco control practitioners on the ways in which the tobacco industry seeks to influence the youth; and the strategies and tactics that can be applied to keep the tobacco industry in check. 

Dr. Upendra Bhojani was invited to be a participant in the plenary session on the above theme at the Summit and the recording can be accessed here.


31st National Road Safety Week – January 2020

31st National Road Safety Week – January 2020

by | Feb 10, 2020 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Events, Latest Updates, post_slider, Road Safety

1.5 lakh lives are lost every year and many more are debilitated on Indian roads due to road crashes. This causes the families of victims with immense economic hardship and emotional trauma. According to the WHO reports, road crashes are one of the leading cause of deaths among the youth between the ages of 5-29 in India and worldwide.

To make our roads safe for all road users and to reduce the crash rates, every year “National Road Safety Week” is observed throughout the country. The focus of the activities of this week is to create more awareness among road users about the road safety and to emphasize good road using practices.

To observe this year’s 31st National Road Safety Week, Institute of Public Health in association with HKBK Group of institutions and Indian Degree College under banner of Safer roads Bengaluru initiative organised a bunch of activities from 14th to 17th of Jan 2020 at our selected stretch of road in Bengaluru. Signature campaign #IResolve4RoadSafety, Quiz on road safety for public and college students, Human chains at major junctions are the main activities among all other activities.

We were at all major junctions of the selected stretch of road from Hebbal to K R Puram throughout the Road Safety Week. A signature wall with student volunteers was present at all the junctions seeking public commitment for road safety. Around 3000 people committed for safer road usage through signing on our campaign wall.
Quiz on road safety witnessed more than 5000 participation. Winners of the quiz were awarded with a ISI marked 2-wheeler helmets by #SaferroadsBLR initiative. We also engaged people through our social media platform Facebook and twitter for the broader reach.

Film Screening: Health in All and the Tribal Population in South India

Film Screening: Health in All and the Tribal Population in South India

by | Jan 8, 2020 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Events, Health Equity and Evaluation, Latest Updates, Public Health Seminars, Seminars 2020

Join live seminar

The IPH Knowledge Management Committee invites you to attend the screening of “Health in All and the Tribal Population in South India.” directed by professional filmmaker Lode Desmet. The film was made along with public health researchers at IPH, Bangalore and ITM, Antwerp and was officially released at the Bringing Evidence into Public Health Policy (EPHP) conference in Bangalore in July 2016.

Collaborative research with tribal populations in South India confirmed and unraveled social exclusion as a major obstacle to health and well-being. The documentary makes a case for a ‘Health in All’ approach, starting from the realities and needs, voiced by members of tribal communities.

The screening will be followed by a discussion. You are invited to join the film screening in person or over Zoom, using the link below: https://zoom.us/j/701662546

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Affiliation

ITM, Antwerp & IPH, Bengaluru

Date

 9 – January – 2020

Time

3:30 pm – 4.30 pm

Venue

Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru

3009, II-A Main, 17th Cross, KR Rd, Siddanna Layout,
Banashankari Stage II, Banashankari,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560070

Public lecture at IIHS

Public lecture at IIHS

by | Dec 2, 2019 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Publications

The director at IPH, Dr. Upendra Bhojani, gave a public lecture at IIHS in the ‘Publics’ lecture series.  The talk was on Dr. Bhojani’s long standing work on the role of local health systems in poor urban neighbourhoods in Bangalore. The talk emphasised that there is an urgent need to strengthen local health systems to provide affordable and quality care to a large number of people, particularly to the urban poor, living with chronic conditions. It unpacked the complex dynamics of local health system. Dr. Bhojani also highlighted the need to go beyond just improving the health systems – to further address other social determinants of chronic conditions such as poverty, age- and gender-based social norms, family structure, and inadequate social care provision.

A video recording of the talk can be watched here.

ITM visit

by | Dec 2, 2019 | Chronic Health Conditions

The director at IPH, Dr. Upendra Bhojani, attended the Be-cause health international conference on Urban health, organized by the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. It was held on 15-16 October 2019 in Brussels. The conference sought to “address the following questions: How to achieve universal access to health in cities? What is the best way to organize health services and the health system in urban settings? How does addressing the impact of urban life impact on the health of urban populations?” 

With respect to institutional building, Dr. Bhojani had a meeting with the new director of ITM, Marc-Alain Widdowson. The new director was briefed about the overview of IPH, the role of IPH-ITM partnership in the past, and how do we see the partnership with ITM in future. Dr. Bhojani also along with Diljith Kannan had a joint partners meeting wherein they discussed on  working together through innovations in partnerships and joint-education activities.