Dr. Upendra Bhojani, India Alliance Fellow and Director at IPH, was
invited to participate in a Roundtable discussion hosted by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and World Health Organization, India in Delhi on the 26th July 2019.
The roundtable discussion was attended by subject experts, bureaucrats and
researchers from Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi.
While urbanization offers opportunities for growth and
development, it poses unique challenges for health and health governance. Acknowledging
health as a key component of urban planning and governance by policymakers is
an important step to visualize and translate sustainable urban development into
action. Themes that were broadly discussed over the course of the day include:
The need to strengthen and rationalise existing urban primary health
structures in the context of Ayushman Bharat.
The need for strong financial governance to help minimise
underutilisation of funds.
Lack of effective Monitoring, Surveillance and Accountability systems
among diverse stakeholders.
Institute of Public Health (IPH), in association with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Sarvagna Health Care Institute (www.shci.in), another non for profit trust, kick started a project to change KG Halli to address issue of waste management. Bengaluru Development Minister Shri K J George inaugurated this program.
During the launch, residents in a colony of economic weaker section at Kadugondanahalli (KG Halli) were provided with two separate bins and awareness material about wet and dry waste for each house and Urban health team members created awareness about the importance of segregation at source for these residents.
The process of waste collection from house till the disposal will be followed up closely and documented to understand the effectiveness of this initiative and to scale it up to other areas in a phased manner.
To know more about this program click on the links below:
Case note, written by Jenna Paulson during her internship with the Urban Health Action Research Project
Based on her internship with the Urban Health Action Research Project at IPH under the guidance of Dr. Thriveni, faculty of IPH and Shannon L Sibbald, PhD (Assistant Professor, Western University), Jenna Paulson from Western Cape University, Ontario written a case note titled, “Youth as change agents”.
BACKGROUND :
Kadugondanahalli (KG Halli), a neighbourhood within the urban slums of Bangalore, India, is riddled with barriers and challenges to navigation within the healthcare system. Residents, faced with a multitude of problems, including chronic conditions, primarily Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, have poor access to healthcare services and are, thereby, faced with high out-ofpocket expenditure. The youth, especially, are confronted with extremely challenging living conditions. Healthcare services at KG Halli are not integrated, quality of care is poor, and these trends are perpetuated by the strong power dynamics that exist at both state and national levels. For the past three years, Dr. Thriveni, Urban Health Systems project manager and Public Health Specialist at the Institute of Public Health (IPH), has been advocating on behalf of the local youth to improve their living circumstances.
Link to read moreabout Case note, written by Jenna Paulson :Click Here
Chronic conditions are on rise globally and in India . Prevailing intra-urban inequities in access to healthcare services compounds the problems faced by urban poor
This research paper reports trends in prevalence of chronic conditions and health seeking pattern among the urban poor neighborhood in South India.
