Chronic Health Conditions & Public Policies
Chronic conditions are the health issues that require ongoing management over a period of years or decades. They include chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) but also a few communicable diseases and conditions (like disabilities) that lasts longer. The chronic conditions are on the rise globally and in India, where it has become a leading cause of deaths and disabilities.
PRIORITIES
TOBacco control
Road safety
Multisectoral Actions for Health
Tobacco Control
In India, 28.6% of adults and 14.6% of youth – in total over 26.7 crores (~ 266 million) are the current users of tobacco in some form. Tobacco use causes over 12.8 lakh (~1.2 million) deaths every year in India. Total economic cost from all the diseases caused by tobacco use in India in a year is estimated to be INR 104500 crore (~ 1045 billion). Tobacco use is a common major risk factor for chronic conditions, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. This thematic explores empirical ways to reduce tobacco use in India and the associated health, economic and ecologic burden.
Current Projects
DRITHI:Developing Research and action capacity in India To counter Harm Industries
REALISE:Realist Evaluation Advancement Lab for Implementation Strategy Explanations
Past Projects
Deciphering Epidemic of Epic Proportion
Anushtana: Scaling Implementation of Tobacco Control Laws
Comprehensive Tobacco Control Karnataka
Youth and On-screen Tobacco Use – Value of Media Rating System
Tobacco-Free Youth (TOFY): an initiative in rural Karnataka
Youth and Tobacco Use
Tobacco and Political Concerns
Road Safety
Nearly 90% of all road fatalities occur in low- and middle- income countries, which have less than half of the world’s vehicles. In India, one road crash happens each minute and one life is lost to road crashes every four minutes – with over 150000 individuals losing their lives in road crashes each year. Under this thematic, we explore how to strengthen policies for road safety and their implementation at different levels.
Safer roads Bengaluru
Advocacy for stronger road safety and transport legislation in India
Multisectoral Actions for Health
Health is seen as a dynamic state of physical, mental and social well-being. Health, especially at a population level, is impacted by several social, economic, environmental, cultural and political factors. Hence, enhancing population health requires coordinated actions across sectors, beyond just the healthcare sector. This thematic explores ways of engendering multisectoral actions for health and promoting health through public policies across different sectors (health-in all policy approach).
Health-in All and the Tribal Population in South India
Health-in All Policy and NCDs
Health-in All Policy and Tobacco Control
Updates
Deciphering an epidemic of epic proportion: the role of state and tobacco industry in tobacco control in post-liberalized India (1990-2017)
In this seminar, Upendra Bhojani will present an overview of the research he aims to conduct as part of the India Alliance fellowship for the next 5 years. The purpose is to seek comments/suggestions/critique for refining the proposal. About 3500 Indians die every day due to tobacco-attributable illnesses. Despite several regulatory measures, there has been a marginal decline in tobacco use in the last two decades. In fact, since 1990s, tobacco production and sales have increased. Therefore, this research aims to understand the role played by the state policies (related to tobacco) and the tobacco industry actions during 1990-2017. I will conduct the study in three phases. In Phase-1, I will map public policies related to tobacco in this period. In will use quantitative data to explore associations between the tobacco policies and the trends in tobacco production and consumption. In phase-2 I will use qualitative data to understand how the tobacco industry actors influence tobacco policies in India. How do governments in India respond to the industry influence as well as their own varying (often conflicting) interests in tobacco? Based on these insights, in the phase-3, I will select ten Indian states: five positive (significant decline in tobacco prevalence over time) and five negative (status quo or increase in tobacco prevalence) cases. I will use qualitative comparative analysis to understand the combinations of measures (policies, implementation, tobacco industry) that best explain a significant reduction in tobacco use prevalence.
Tobacco Control Project
tobacco control: Understanding public policy around tobacco use is required to understand the conflicts of interests of state
Internship: Krishna Subedi
Tobacco cessation counselling in NIMHANS, field visits to the primary Internship Seminar: Krishna Subedi: health care center
Regional road safety meeting
Regional road safety meeting: CUTS International in partnership with Centre for Environment & Development (CED) organized a Regional Meeting on ‘Road safety
Visit to Durham University
As part of his UK visit, Upendra Bhojani of the Institute of Public Health (Bengaluru) visited the Durham University. Prof. Andrew Russell at the Department of Anthropology (Durham University), who has been doing pioneering work in area of tobacco control, facilitated...
World No Tobacco Day 2017
The Consortium for Tobacco Free Karnataka (a group of individuals and organizations working towards tobacco free Karnataka) in collaboration with the state (Karnataka State Anti Tobacco Cell) and municipal (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike) governments organized...