Harvard Public Health Magazine
Fall 2016
Healthy Ambitions
“The new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health India Research Center, which opened in Mumbai earlier this year, firmly places the School in the midst of the world’s fastest-growing economy—and what will soon be the world’s most populous nation.
The India center is the latest installment of decades of vital engagement with India. Since at least the 1950s, faculty and students have been working in India alongside local experts in medical, government, nongovernmental, and public health settings. The School’s new anchor provides an opportunity to expand those efforts—from reducing tobacco-related diseases and preventing neonatal deaths to cutting pollution-related ailments and addressing the challenges of an aging population—through a combination of research, training, and collaboration on public policy and practice innovations.”
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Opens Centre in Mumbai
December 2015–Times of India
SUMITRA DEB ROY
“The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health recently announced the opening of a centre in Mumbai. The collaboration is aimed at helping to broaden and coordinate the institution’s collaborations to improve health in India and around the world.
Harvard alumnus Dr Swati and Ajay Piramal, both at the helm of Piramal Enterprises Ltd and Piramal Group respectively, have provided the space for the centre on the first floor of the Piramal Tower Annexe. While the Harvard Business School has had a center in Mumbai since 2006, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has had active research and educational programs in the country since the 1960s, but not an established physical centre until now.
Harvard Chan School’s acting dean David Hunter said, ‘India has made dramatic progress in the recent years. For more than a decade, it has experienced record-breaking economic growth that has been accompanied by significant reductions in poverty. Infant mortality fell from 64 to 41 per 1,000 live births from 2000 to 2013. Life expectancy at birth has increased from 62 to 66 years, and the maternal mortality ratio has fallen from 390 to 189 per 100,000 live births over the same period.’ He added that the institution sees many opportunities for the two schools to expand interactions between each other, and public health organizations, as well as the state and central governments dedicated to improving health in the country and the South Asia region.
Progress in global health: Obstacles, innovations and India in focus
The Economist
Peter Berman, professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, explores where the chief disparities lie in global health, and explains why now more than ever there is a need for smart investment. Shamika Ravi, a fellow in development economics at Brookings India and fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, pinpoints the challenges India faces and outlines why effective healthcare is vital if the country’s middle class is to thrive.
Cost effective medical practices are common in India and can be replicated in the western world
January 2015–Times of India
In January 2015, three of the School’s students spent three weeks with the Indian NGO Jaipur Foot studying the model of inclusive medical practice. One of their observations is the need to work with the health community in India to learn some of their cost effective medical practices. See full article in January 14, 2015 The Times of India. The India Health Partnership strives to reinforce the connection between resources at the School and health professionals in India for mutual benefit.
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