IPH Representation in South Asia Regional Consortium, SARC

IPH Representation in South Asia Regional Consortium, SARC

by | Aug 21, 2020 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Latest Updates

Dr. Upendra Bhojani was invited to be a member of a Technical Advisory Panel for the South Asian Regional Consortium Centre for Combating Tobacco (SARC-CCT), Colombo. Other members of the Technical Advisory Panel include Dr. Rana J Singh, Prof. Stella Bialous, Dr. Tara Singh Bam and Dr. Mary Assunta.

The SARC-CCT Technical Advisory Panel represents the regional and international experts who work in the tobacco control field, who are able to help advise and offer guidance to the SARC-CCT. This consortium has representatives from the South Asian states, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, India & Sri Lanka. The consortium was first set up and inaugurated in July 2019 as a tobacco observatory, the main purpose of which is to monitor tobacco industry activities and implementation of FCTC Article 5.3 in the region of South Asia. The first meeting of the consortium was held on 30th July 2020 and is scheduled to occur once in three months. 

Sixteenth webinar in the Equilogues

Sixteenth webinar in the Equilogues

by | Aug 12, 2020 | Blog, Health Equilogues, Latest Updates, post_slider

Time

3.00 PM – 5.00 PM

Register Here

Date

14-August-2020

Title:

“Differential Experience to COVID-19 and its Control Measures in India”

Speakers:

  1. Md. Gufran Alam from Aman Biradari Trust (New Delhi) 
  2. Rohini Chhari from Bhoomi Gramotthan Evam Shabhagi Gramin Vikas Sanstha, Morena (Madhya Pradesh) 
  3. Lilawati Waghare from Amhi Aamchya Aarogya Sathi, Gadhchiroli (Maharashtra) 
  4. C. Mahadeva from Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivruddhi Sangha 
  5. Atish Indrekar from Budhan Theatre 
  6. Dilfaraz from SAMARA
Context setting by Rakhal Gaitonde, HENI Steering Group member and Professor at  Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology, Trivandrum and one of the authors of the recent paper on BMJ Global Health titled Bridging a false dichotomy in the COVID-19 response: a ‘public health’ approach to the lockdown debate.
Moderated by Prashanth NS, HENI Secretariat member and Faculty lead at Health Equity Cluster, Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru.

A “learning together” workshop-cum-webinar to collectively understand the differential effects of COVID-19 on individuals and communities. Members from underrepresented and marginalized communities will share their community’s experience of living through the pandemic and the lockdown’s impact on livelihood.

It will kindle discussions among the participants on the following key questions:
  1. What can we learn about the pandemic’s experience in particular individuals/communities/contexts?
  2. What brought about such a vulnerability in the first place?
  3. How could we mitigate the effects of such vulnerability in similar contexts?

IPH Bengaluru Annual Day Oration 2020

IPH Bengaluru Annual Day Oration 2020

by | Aug 12, 2020 | Blog, IPH Annual Day oration series, Latest Updates, post_slider

Speaker

Dr. Gita Sen

About Orator

Date

28-August-2020

Dr. Gita Sen
Founder & Member of the Executive Committee of Development Alternatives with Women.
Currently serves on the Scientific & Technical Advisory Group of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research.
Co-chair of PAHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Gender Equality and Health.
Gender & Health Scholar with Multiple academic affiliations to Indian and Global academic centers of excellence.

IPH Oration series is a public event, please feel free to disseminate the flyer among your networks – Download Flyer

Consultancy project with the State Anti-Tobacco Cell, Gov of Karnataka

Consultancy project with the State Anti-Tobacco Cell, Gov of Karnataka

by | Aug 1, 2020 | Blog, Chronic Health Conditions, Latest Updates

Consultancy project with the State Anti-Tobacco Cell

In a project commissioned by the State Anti-Tobacco Cell (Dept Health and Family Welfare Services, GOK), Riddhi and Upendra, researchers at the DEEP project at IPH, with the help of intern Neema Joseph, historically mapped and analyzed various tobacco-related litigations in Karnataka high court in order to identify the stakeholders as well as common laws/arguments used by these stakeholders in shaping tobacco regulations in Karnataka. The project sought to answer two main questions:

1.     What have been the legislations and major arguments used by petitioners in litigations challenging tobacco control regulations in Karnataka?

2.     Who have been the stakeholders engaged directly in litigations related to tobacco in Karnataka?

Upon completion of the study, we presented this work to members of the Tobacco Control Alliance in a meeting organized by the department on 26th July 2020 and later submitted a report of the study physically to the Deputy Director, Dr. Selvaraj who also leads the tobacco control initiative. We discussed a possible follow-up to the study, centred around convening of lawyers and select petitioners, and studying a few key litigations in Karnataka. We believe such insights can help the state government pre-empt legal challenges as well as develop an effective stakeholder-specific response to legal challenges. The team hopes to write and publish a paper based on this work.

Download the Report – Here

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.