Posted on

Winter 2023 Harvard Public Health Magazine cites work by Berkman/Truesdale and Subramanian/Kim

Cover of Harvard Public Health Magazine

In the current issue of Harvard Public Health Magazine, Harvard Pop Center research projects (and researchers) are getting some attention. The book “Overtime: America’s Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer” co-edited by HCPDS Director Lisa Berkman and Visiting Scientist Beth C. Truesdale is spotlighted in the “Bookshelf” section, and novel research by Faculty Member S (Subu) V Subramanian and Visiting Scientist Rockli Kim that mapped undernutrition across India’s…

Continue reading “Winter 2023 Harvard Public Health Magazine cites work by Berkman/Truesdale and Subramanian/Kim”

Posted on

Harvard Chan School reports: “Study highlights inequalities in early childhood vaccination in India”

Arm of young child with band aids from vaccine

A study published in JAMA Open Network by Harvard Pop Center faculty member S (Subu) V Subramanian, PhD, visiting scientist Rockli Kim, and their colleagues reveals a pattern of vaccination rates among children (ages 12-23 months) in India; despite efforts to achieve increased vaccination rates nationally, the number of children in certain regions and states in India who did not receive routine vaccinations (first dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine)…

Continue reading “Harvard Chan School reports: “Study highlights inequalities in early childhood vaccination in India””

Posted on

India Policy Insights investigates variation in the quality of maternal and newborn care between smaller areas within districts in India

Maps of India showing maternal and newborn health

Researchers affiliated with the India Policy Insights initiative have published the findings of a cross-sectional study  in JAMA Network Open that reports there being more variation in maternal and newborn care quality (measured by 11 individual components of care) in smaller, “within-district” geographic areas compared to the district- and state-level, suggesting that “policy around maternal and child health care needs to be designed more precisely to consider district mean and…

Continue reading “India Policy Insights investigates variation in the quality of maternal and newborn care between smaller areas within districts in India”

Posted on

India Policy Insights announces the first-ever interactive policy dashboard for India’s 543 Parliamentary Constituencies

Screen shot of PC tracker

India Policy Insights (IPI), the flagship project of the Geographic Insights Lab at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has developed a first-ever interactive policy dashboard for India’s 543 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs). This public interactive tool provides health, nutrition, and development data that specifically aligns with the political units represented by India’s democratically elected Members of Parliament (MPs), who are responsible for overseeing effective policy implementation for their…

Continue reading “India Policy Insights announces the first-ever interactive policy dashboard for India’s 543 Parliamentary Constituencies”

Posted on

New policy brief series by India Policy Insights team delivers concise analysis of key performance indictors for five national programs sponsored by Indian government

Box plot graph for India Policy Insights' policy brief

The government of India has invested in programmes to help the states and districts achieve performance goals set to address everything from health issues (such as reducing anemia, stunting and low birth weight) to issues around gender inequity and women’s empowerment through education. But how can it be determined if India’s districts are achieving these goals? Now, a new policy brief series produced by India Policy Insight‘s team helps shed…

Continue reading “New policy brief series by India Policy Insights team delivers concise analysis of key performance indictors for five national programs sponsored by Indian government”

Posted on

Can India’s Health Information Management System (HMIS) data be relied upon for estimates of population-level birth and child mortality rates?

A series of graphs that compare neonatal mortality rates from HMIS administrative data to national survey data in India

This study is one of the first to compare facility-based, administrative health data on births and child deaths to birth and death vital statistics from the more commonly relied upon nationally representative surveys, such as the Sample Registration System and the National Family Health System, at national and state levels over a four-year period. Although the study authors (including Pritha Chatterjee, Harvard Bell Fellow Aashish Gupta, and HCPDS faculty member…

Continue reading “Can India’s Health Information Management System (HMIS) data be relied upon for estimates of population-level birth and child mortality rates?”

Posted on

JAMA study findings call for more targeted interventions in LMICS for malnutrition and infections for children under age 2, as well as for pregnant women

Newborn baby sleeps on the forearm of a man

An original investigation of 77 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) published in JAMA Network found that 82% of under 5 child deaths occurred before age 2, with over half occurring in the neonatal period. Authors include faculty member S (Subu) V Subramanian, visiting scientist Rockli Kim, and their colleagues Omar Karlsson and Andreas Hasman. The study also spotlights diarrhea and pneumonia as two significant causes for child death over 2…

Continue reading “JAMA study findings call for more targeted interventions in LMICS for malnutrition and infections for children under age 2, as well as for pregnant women”

Posted on

International Money Fund: Are the tradeoffs fair and acceptable when it comes to population health?

Photo of International Monetary Fund lettering on side of building

A study published in World Development by three researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center (former Bell Fellow Adel Daoud, faculty member S V Subramanian, and the 2017 recipient of the Sissela Bok Ethics and Population Research Prize Anders Herlitz, reviews already existing policy-evaluation studies, finding that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies “on balance show that IMF policies, in their pursuit of macroeconomic improvement, frequently produce adverse effects on children’s…

Continue reading “International Money Fund: Are the tradeoffs fair and acceptable when it comes to population health?”

Posted on

Honing in on small geographic areas within districts in India yields large differences

Indian mother holding baby

Estimating health indicators, such as birth weight and size, is typically calculated at the district level in India, a practice that fails to capture the inequalities that may exist between smaller geographic areas, such as villages. A team of researchers affiliated with the India Policy Insights project have published a study that takes a novel look at low birth weight (LBW) and low birth size (LBS) across these smaller geographical…

Continue reading “Honing in on small geographic areas within districts in India yields large differences”

Posted on

Better than average… study applies complex variance modelling to more accurately assess treatment effects of the Head Start program

Road sign that says "average"

When assessing the effectiveness of a large-scale, federally funded program such as Head Start—a program designed to better prepare children ages 3-5 from low-income families for school—it is limited to only look at the Average Treatment Effect given the “considerable systematic heterogeneity within population between individuals.” This study applies complex variance modelling, an extension of multilevel modelling, to capture the variance, as well as the mean, in order to shed…

Continue reading “Better than average… study applies complex variance modelling to more accurately assess treatment effects of the Head Start program”