Dr.Vijayashree Yellappa,Faculty at IPH attended meeting for WHO-TDR at Accra Ghana, from 12-16 October 2015
WHO’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) is co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bankand WHO. Its main objective is to “strengthen capacity for health research in the control of neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and malaria and result in tangible health impact“.
IPH was one among the 26 IMPACT Grants awardees from among 23 low- and middle-income countries. IPH Research Project aims to “optimise the involvement of private sector in National TB Programme, in Tumkur district, India.
The IMPACT grants scheme is designed to optimize Interventions, Methods, Policies, Actions, Campaigns or Tools for improved health and well-being of those burdened by malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The goal is to promote a research culture within disease control programmes, stimulate demand for research, improve ability to conduct high quality research and use results effectively.
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 level. There are many challenges in implementation of food security schemes which hinders achieving desired outcomes of reducing malnutrition and the benefits reaching the actual poor.
Link to Manoj’s blog in Global Food Security….Click here
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 students from diverse backgrounds working across the country and internationally as well!
For the first time, we have five participants from Universitas of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta who are working in the department of public health. The diverse work backgrounds of the participants include UNICEF, National Institute of Epidemiology, St.John’s Research Institute, Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Department of Environmental Science and various NGOs like JANANI and SAATHI.
We also have participants who are pursuing their PG in the field of community medicine and hospital & healthcare management. The course consists of eight modules and each module consists of four units. Each unit will have one to two classrooms that is a PowerPoint presentation with audio recording and corresponding exercises. Each module ends with a final module test based on the content covered. The students are expected to complete these units and based on their completion we are presenting their progress. Based on the feedback provided, this new batch has new features to make the learning experience more interesting and fun. Keeping in mind the work backgrounds of our participants who have to travel constantly and have limited internet access, we have introduced a new feature called “Learn on the go”. This feature allows them to download MP3 versions of our classrooms and listen to them on the go! Out of 31 students, 30 have logged in and viewed our course. The number of students who have managed to complete Module – 1 are 19, which is about 61% of the total students.
We are currently in the process of identifying any challenges faced by the participants and address them as we move forward in the course. We look forward to providing a good learning experience to the participants!
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 here
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 workplace. World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of baby’s life and early initiation of breastfeeding for protecting the child from various types of malnutrition.But unfortunately, breastfeeding has never been a central agenda in long history of health reform in India. Results are obvious. India houses larger number of malnourished children , twice as large as of Sub-Saharan Africa and five times larger than our neighbor China. Here is a blog which discusses what barriers exist and what can be done to bring back good breastfeeding practices into the list of larger sustainable goals for the country.
Link to Manoj Pati’s blog in BioMed Central can be found here
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 level. There are many challenges in implementation of food security schemes which hinders achieving desired outcomes of reducing malnutrition and the benefits reaching the actual poor.
s like JANANI and SAATHI.
