Anushthana: Scaling Implementation of Tobacco Control Laws
This is a research study that aims to understand how to enhance and scale implementation of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) in India. It’s been
This study is supported through India Alliance early-career clinical and public health fellowship awarded to Pragati Hebbar.
Anushthana Team
- Dr. Pragati Hebbar, Principal Investigator, PhD Scholar, and DBT/WellCome Trust India Alliance Early Career Fellow
- Vivek Dsouza, Research Officer
- Praveen Rao, Communications Consultant
- Kumaran P, Consultant- Communities of Practice
Funding Agency
PhD promoters:
Gera Nagelhout, Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University
(CAPHRI) Constant ‘Onno’ Van Schayck, Department of Family Medicine, Maastricht
University (CAPHRI)
Dr. Giridhar Babu, Head-Lifecourse Epidemiology, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) & Intermediate Fellow, Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance
Dr. Upendra Bhojani, Director, Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru
Collaborators:
Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, MS (Dental Surgery), Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai
Dr. Pratima Murthy, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences
Dr. US Vishal Rao, MS (Otolaryngology), Member, High Power Committee on Tobacco Control, Government of Karnataka
Nikhil Gokani, Deputy Director, Law, and Non-Communicable Diseases Unit. Researcher, School of Law and Social Justice, Essex University, Liverpool, UK.
Mentors:
Dr. Prakash C Gupta, Director, PhD, Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public
Health.
Dr. Prashanth NS, PhD, Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru.
Fellowship Supervisor and Primary sponsor:
Dr. Upendra Bhojani, PhD, Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru.External Sponsor:
Dr. Sara Van Belle, PhD, Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp.
1. Publication
- Implementation research for taking tobacco control policies to scale in India: a realist evaluation study protocol
- Beyond numbers, coverage, and cost: adaptive governance for post-COVID-19 reforms in India
- Healthcare delivery in India amid the Covid-19 pandemic: Challenges and opportunities
- Affirmative action, minorities, and public services in India: Charting a future research and practice agenda
- LifeFirst: Impact of a school-based tobacco and supari cessation intervention among adolescent students in Mumbai, India
2. Workshops
3. Webinars
The webinars provide a platform and encourage dialogue amongst researchers, policy-makers, practitioners, and implementers to address and provide solutions to complex public health problems related to tobacco control especially the implementation of tobacco control policies.
These webinars specifically engage with the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes, and aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP), its progress and impact on health outcomes, and challenges/barriers in its implementation across various states in India.
EPISODE 1: Youth and Tobacco Control Policies in India
EPISODE 2: Implementing Ban on Tobacco Advertisements, Promotions, and Sponsorships
EPISODE 3: Prohibition of smoking in public places – implementation experiences
Episode 4: Role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Tobacco Control
Episode 5: How Does Research Shape Tobacco Control Policies In India?
Conference Presentations
We participated in 12 national and international conferences and shared our work through eight oral and poster presentations.
Cluster 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...
Duration of project
(2018-2023)
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