Health Equity

While health status of the Indian population has improved steadily over the last few decades, there has been a worrying stagnation or decline in health in some geographies, populations especially across socio-economic status, caste, gender and/or other vulnerabilities. We take up research and action to improve the understanding on the drivers of health inequities in India.

Our early work has shown a neglect of how and why questions in health policy and programme evaluation. We undertake health policy and programme evaluation, specialising in theory-driven and realist evaluation, but also with an interest in taking up evaluation studies with an equity lens or focus

Tribal Health
Over 8.6% of India’s population is constituted of tribal communities. They have poor access to healthcare as well as poor population health outcomes like maternal and child mortality and morbidity, communicable disease prevalence and nutrition. Among the social determinants of tribal health, geographical remoteness, proximity to forest areas, cultural distance from the “mainstream” population, historical isolation and social stratification have all been postulated to have a significant effect on their health outcome. The health equity cluster works with forest dwelling tribal communities (also known as Adivasis, indigenous communities), on improving their access to healthcare services.

Health Equity Network India
The network brings together individuals and institutions interested in advancing health equity through research, advocacy and action. The network was an outcome of the “Closing the gap: Health equity research initiative in India” by the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum. The health equity cluster is the national secretariat for the network.

OneHealth
Achieving equitable health involves action not only on various aspects of human health, but also acknowledging and ensuring cross-sectoral action and inclusive inter-disciplinary engagement across public health, animal health and environmental health professions and disciplines. In view of its work in forested areas, the health equity cluster focuses on health systems strengthening components in OneHealth initiatives.

Mental Health at Primary Health Care
There i s no health without mental health. It is impossible to conceive an idea of health without ensuring and realising mental health. Yet, this is among the most neglected of health problems in terms of access to care for mental health conditions in our country. The health equity cluster focuses on research and action for strengthening mental health in primary health care.

Peer-reviewed and books

Ravindran, T.K. Sundari, and Rakhal Gaitonde. 2018. Health Inequities in India. Edited byT.K. Sundari Ravindran and Rakhal Gaitonde. Springer Singapore. doi:10.1007/978-981-10-5089-3.

Prashanth NS, Sridharan VS, Seshadri T, Sudarshan H, Kumar KVK, Murthy RS. Mental Health in Primary Health Care: The Karuna Trust Experience. In: White RG, Jain S, Orr DMR, Read UM, editors. The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health [Internet]. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2017. p. 725–50. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39510-8_34

Prashanth N S, Elias, M A, Aivalli P, et al. Improving access to medicines for non-communicable diseases in rural India: a mixed methods study protocol using quasi-experimental design. BMC Health Services Research 16:421 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-016-1680-3

Prashanth N S, Marchal B, Devadasan N, et al. Advancing the application of systems thinking in health: a realist evaluation of a capacity building programme for district managers in Tumkur, India. Heal Res Policy Syst 2014;12:42. doi:10.1186/1478-4505-12-42

Prashanth NS, Marchal B, Kegels G, et al. Evaluation of capacity-building program of district health managers in India: a contextualized theoretical framework. Front public Heal 2014;2:89. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2014.00089

Marchal, B., Hoerée, T., da Silveira, V., Van Belle, S., Prashanth, N. S., & Kegels, G. (2014). Building on the EGIPPS performance assessment: the multipolar framework as a heuristic to tackle the complexity of performance of public service oriented health care organisations. BMC Public Health, 14(1), 378. http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-378

Ravinetto RM, Dorlo TP, Caudron J-M, Prashanth N S. The global impact of Indian generics on access to health. Indian J Med Ethics 2013;10:118–20.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23697493 (accessed 3 Nov2013).

Prashanth, N. S., Marchal, B., & Criel, B. (2013). Evaluating Healthcare Interventions: Answering the “How” Question. Indian Anthropologist, 43(1), 35–50.

NS Prashanth, B Marchal, T Hoeree, N Devadasan, J Macq, G Kegels, B Criel (2012) “How does capacity building of health managers work? A realist evaluation study protocol” BMJ Open 2 (2) http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/2/e000882.short

Sudarshan, H and NS Prashanth (2011) “Good governance in health care: the Karnataka experience.” The Lancet 377(9768): 790-792

Prashanth NS. (2011). Public-Private Partnerships and Health Policies. Economic And Political Weekly, 15–17.

Pasricha, SR, Black, J, Muthayya, S, Shet A, Bhat V, Nagaraj S, Prashanth NS, Sudarshan H, Biggs BA, Shet AS. (2010) “Determinants of anemia among young children in rural India” Pediatrics 126(1): e140-9

Velho N, Srinivasan U, Prashanth NS & Laurance WF (2011) “Human disease hinders anti-poaching efforts in Indian nature reserves” Biological Conservation 144(9):2382-85

Pasricha, S.-R., Shet, A. S., Black, J. F., Sudarshan, H., Prashanth, N S., & Biggs, B.-A. (2011). Vitamin B-12, folate, iron, and vitamin A concentrations in rural Indian children are associated with continued breastfeeding, complementary diet, and maternal nutrition. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. http://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.018580

N S, Prashanth. (2010). Healthy forests and healthy people: A problem of first among equals. Current Conservation, 3(4). Retrieved from http://www.currentconservation.org/issues/cc_3-4-15.pdf

Pasricha Sant-Rayn ; Vijaykumar Varalaxmi ; Prashanth NS ; Sudarshan H ; Biggs Beverley- Ann ; Black Jim ; Shet Arun. (2009). A community based field research project investigating anaemia amongst young children living in rural Karnataka, India: a cross sectional study. BMC Public Health, 9(1), 59. Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/59

Conference presentation and talk

Towards Health Equity & Transformative Action on Tribal Health (Project THETA), Prashanth N S, Made Gowda, Giridhara R Babu, Nandini Velho, M D Madhusudan, Tanya Seshadri, Bruno Marchal, N Devdasan, Sundari Ravindran
Health – A fair chance | Dr. Prashanth Nuggehalli Srinivas

Public Engagement and Media

A film “Tayiya Kanasu” on maternal health in soliga community

THETA project collaborators meeting was held on 7th June 2018 at IPH BR hills field station.

We welcome internship applications from students/graduates interested in aligning their internships with our work on health equity . The current openings are in the following areas. Interns will be expected to work partly in Bangalore and partly from our field station in Chamarajanagar district.

Household survey preparation in Chamarajanagar tribal area.
Assist in Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and analysis.
Assessing local health system preparedness for rabies
Survey related preparation for Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD)
Mental health care at primary health care

People

Updates

Enhancing the role of community

by Ketki Shah | Jan 17, 2019

While great gains have been made in both understanding and eradicating disease burdens for indigenous populations, health systems studies

Eleventh webinar in the Equilogues

by iphindia | Jan 1, 2019

The Health Equity Cluster at IPH Bengaluru is now the secretariat for the newly launched Health Equity Network India (HENI)

Sharing power with communities

by Ketki Shah | Dec 4, 2018

Sharing power with communities in-health research priority setting- As a matter of health and social justice, health research should improve the health

Literature review on adivasi

by Ketki Shah | Nov 19, 2018

Anuradha will share her internship experience at IPH, as part of the THETA Project, focusing on available health research on the Adivasi community in India.

Ninth Webinar in the Epilogue Series

by Ketki Shah | Aug 30, 2018

Closing the Gap: Health Equity Research Initiative in India of the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology is partnering with the Cluster on Health Equity at the Institute of Public Health Bengaluru to announce the ninth webinar in the Equilogues series.

Theme: Denial of reproductive health rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Chhattisgarh

Speaker: Sulakshana Nandi, State Convener of Public Health Resource Network, Chhattisgarh.

Integrating mental health

by Ketki Shah | Jul 25, 2018

Integrating mental health – The global burden of disease for mental health problems is substantial, but because of scarce resources that are unequally

Tribal Health

Tribal health – Over 8.6% of India’s population is constituted of tribal communities. They have poor access to healthcare as well as poor population health outcomes like maternal and child mortality and morbidity, communicable disease prevalence and nutrition. Among the social determinants of tribal health, geographical remoteness, proximity to forest areas, cultural distance from the “mainstream” population, historical isolation and social stratification have all been postulated to have a significant effect on their health outcome. The health equity cluster works with forest dwelling tribal communities (also known as Adivasis, indigenous communities), on improving their access to healthcare services.

Towards health equity and transformative action on Tribal health (THETA)

Implementation Research Project on Maternal Health

Health Equity Network India

The network brings together individuals and institutions interested in advancing health equity through research, advocacy and action. The network was an outcome of the “Closing the gap: Health equity research initiative in India” by the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum. The health equity cluster is the national secretariat for the network.

Health Equity Network India

Onehealth

Achieving equitable health involves action not only on various aspects of human health, but also acknowledging and ensuring cross-sectoral action and inclusive inter-disciplinary engagement across public health, animal health and environmental health professions and disciplines. In view of its work in forested areas, the health equity cluster focuses on health systems strengthening components in OneHealth initiatives.

Assessing Local Health System Preparedness for Rabies

MRC-KFD project

Mental Health in Primary Health Care

There is no health without mental health. It is impossible to conceive an idea of health without ensuring and realising mental health. Yet, this is among the most neglected of health problems in terms of access to care for mental health conditions in our country. The health equity cluster focuses on research and action for strengthening mental health in primary health care.