IPH News and Events

Write up in Hindu on tobacco study

2009-02-18T10:31:00.003+05:30

Bangalore: The findings of a study, conducted by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore, this year, shows that over 50 per cent of pre-university (PU) students pursuing courses in arts and humanities are smokers.
The rules and advertisements to discourage the use of tobacco products by the youth have had no impact on students in Bangalore.
The study revealed that 58.9 per cent of students of arts and humanities, followed by 30.6 per cent and 10.6 per cent students of science and commerce streams, respectively, use tobacco products.
The study was conducted in two stages in Bangalore’s 19 PU colleges on 1,087 students of first year PU (53 per cent) and second year PU (47 per cent). At least 18 colleges had one or more tobacco selling points within 100 yards of their campus. The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2005 prohibits sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institution. As much as 55.8 per cent of students said that peer pressure had influenced them to use tobacco products.
More than 30 per cent said their teachers were smokers, while 31.74 per cent said that at least one parent used tobacco products. Cinema influence
As much as 18 per cent felt the need to smoke or consume tobacco when they saw film stars smoking or chewing gutka in films, IPH’s Upendra Bhojani, who conducted the study under the guidance of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, told The Hindu.
Click below to view the link: http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/18/stories/2009021855881000.htm

Urban Health

2009-01-23T12:13:00.002+05:30

The next partners' meeting for Urban Health will be held at CMAI on 28th January 2009.

National Conference on “Human Resources for Health in India”

2009-01-22T20:31:00.004+05:30

Dr.N. Devadasan delivered a talk on "Public health workforce in India" and chaired the session on "AI/PI Preparedness" at the 53rd National Conference of IPHA held at KIMS, Bangalore from 8th -11th January,2009.

Educational networking workshop at Antwerp

2008-12-10T14:50:00.003+05:30

Dr.N.Devadasan and Dr.Upendra Bhojani attended the educational networking workshop organized by the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp to explore the possibility of establishing a network among organizations which have istitutional collaboration with ITM, Antwerp.The workshop was held from 3rd- 7th of November, 2008.

Medical camp in support of Dr. Binayak Sen

2008-04-28T13:08:00.008+05:30

Dr.N.Devadasan and Mr.S.J Chander from IPH organised a free medical camp for the poor to express their opposition against the imprisonment of human rights activist Dr.Binayak Sen.The camp was held at L.R Nagar on 25-04-08.

Click here to view a scanned copy of the newspaper article.

Click here to read an article on this issue that appeared in Indian Health Front.

Public Health forum

2008-03-06T15:31:00.003+05:30

Public Health Forum was held on 21-02-2008, at CMAI, Bangalore. Ms. Asha Goutham and Ms. Baneen Karachiwala from Belaku trust presented on "issues related to the quality of health care and it was followed by a brief discussion.

India Infoline News Article

2008-01-24T14:42:00.000+05:30

Support towards pictorial tobacco warnings gains momentum
India Infoline News Service / Mumbai Dec 12, 2007 16:13
Walkathon & activities held in Shimla, Chennai & Bangalore – other cities to follow suit!
The much awaited implementation of the pictorial warnings law for all tobacco products has been postponed for the fourth time. Supporters of pictorial warnings that include YMCA, Shimla; Maharana Pratap Jan Kalyan Sansthan, Jubbal; Gramudyog Welfare Worker’s Association; and Mahila Vikas Sadan, and the Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC) are actively demonstrating their support by means of different activities across cities.
The most recent was the Shimla Walkathon for Pictorial Warnings held on 11th December. Supporters from Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Himachal Pradesh Voluntary Health Association (HPVHA), and other local health organizations along with hundreds of students participated in a walkathon with the common objective of reiterating their solidarity towards the government’s decision.
The law which mandates all tobacco products to carry images of cancerous tumors supposed to be implemented from December 1 was postponed owing to various reasons cited by the tobacco manufacturers. Dr. P. C. Gupta, Director, “Tobacco manufactures do not want to tell the truth to people because it may affect their profits. The arguments of size are specious—they can increase the pack size. If they are concerned about the plight of the workers let them provide health insurance and other benefits to the workers that they are entitled to by law.”
Shriniwas Joshi, Retd. IAS Officer, said at the press conference held at Shimla after the Walkathon, “Today, 40% diseases are tobacco-related; 45000 crore rupees is being spent annually for the treatment of these diseases. Soft warnings do not help. Pictorial warnings will communicate these messages more effectively. Communities including the public health organizations and the common public have a major role in supporting such a cause and make a strong demand for its implementation.”
The social organizations actively propagating the law conducted similar events in cities like Chennai & Bangalore. In Chennai, in the spirit of Human rights day on 9th December, hundreds of children came together to demand their right to tobacco smoke-free environment and pictorial warnings on all tobacco products. A human chain demonstration with over three-hundred children and 100 adults was organized by Pasumai Thayagam a social organization in front of the State Guest House, Chapaulk, Chennai in order to communicate their support for immediate implementation of the current law. Similarly, a signature campaign was organized by S.J. Chander, of Institute of Public Health, Bangalore on 7th December. Students from various colleges signed the banners that read “Save lives now! A day’s delay is 2000 lives lost.” The banners, with more than 10000 signatures were presented before the Governor of Bangalore, Rameshwar Thakur, alongwith a memorandum appealing the Governor to support implementation, on 11th December by S.J. Chander and representatives of various colleges. The Governor expressed his support towards the cause by signing the banner.
The concentrated efforts of the multiple organizations conducting and participating in nationwide activities is to show the support for the government’s decision of implementing pictorial warnings that they believe would ultimately lead to better awareness regarding health hazards of tobacco and reduction in tobacco usage.

Deccan Herald Article

2008-01-24T13:31:00.001+05:30

Make pictorial warnings must on tobacco products

Bangalore, DH News Service:

Hundreds of college students carried out a protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Tuesday, demanding the government should make pictorial warnings mandatory on all the tobacco products and discourage tobacco usage among people. The protest was organised by a consortium consisting of 22 members, including hospitals and NGOs from Bangalore, who are fighting for a tobacco free Karnataka. The Indian government in 2003 had passed a law to carry pictorial health warnings on all tobacco products, to be implemented in February 2007. According to the law, the pictorial representations would contain graphics demonstrating various cancers and other diseases arising due to consuming tobacco products. But the implementation of this law has been delayed due to opposition by tobacco industries.

Says S J Chander faculty member of Institute of Public Health who led the protest, “Beedi smoking and other forms of tobacco use is highly concentrated among the illiterate and poor. These people cannot read the statutory warnings on tobacco products and don’t have access to any information on the harmful effects of tobacco. By seeing pictures they can understand that tobacco could lead them to health hazards”. In India 2,500 people die everyday due to tobacco usage. 16 percent of them die due to cigarette smoking, 44 percent die due to bidi smoking and 30 percent loose their life by chewing tobacco products

Signature campaign organised by IPH in to support the implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India

2008-01-24T13:09:00.000+05:30

On 9th December 2007 again the Institute of Public Health (IPH) mobilized signatures of over 5000 medical students and health professionals in the city in the support of implementing the pictorials warning without further delay and dilution. The various institutions participated in the campaign included Cardiological Association of India, Karnataka chapter, Bangalore institute of Oncology, R V Dental College, Padmashree College of Nursing, KLE dental, Christ College and St. Joseph’s College. A delegation headed Mr. Chander of IPH and Dr. I B Vijayalakshmi, president of Cardiological Association of India; Karnataka Chapter along with representatives of the institutions mentioned above met the governor of Karnataka, His Excellency Shri Rameswar Thakur and submitted a memorandum. They appealed to him to implement the pictorial warning and requested him to express his solidarity with the campaign on the signing the signature campaign banner. The governor not only signed, he also assured that he would write to the center in support of the initiative. Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/drupendrabhojani/InstituteOfPublicHealth to view some snaps from the campaign

Training Course on Health Insurance

2007-11-23T16:39:00.000+05:30

With the support from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (New Delhi) and the WHO (India), the Institute of Public Health is organising the 3rd Training Programme on Health Insurance.

For Whom?

Senior state government officers and staff from NGOs/CBOs working on/planning to start health insurance. Total 20 participants (15 from Govt. and 5 from NGOs)

Course Details

Training will focus on how to design and implement a Health Insurance programme. 5 days residential training will be imparted using classroom sessions, group activities and self learning modules.

Venue and Duration

December 17 - 21, Bangalore

Registration

Interested participants should write (preferably email) including details on organization's name, activities and how they are related to health insurance to,

Institute of Public Health,

12/28, 32nd Cross, Jayanagar 7th Block,

Bangalore-560082

Ph: (080)26645232

mail@iphindia.org

Hindu article

2007-11-23T15:17:00.000+05:30

Induction course for PHC doctors planned

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The State Government will soon start an induction course for medical officers of primary health centres (PHCs), Commissioner for Health Basavaraju has said.
Speaking after inaugurating an expert group meeting to discuss findings of a study on training needs assessment for health managers carried out by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bangalore, Mr. Basavaraju said there was need to address the gaps in the National Rural Health Mission. He said the State Government had also evolved a training programme on hospital management for district medical officers. This was essential to improve the management skills of health officers, he said.
Maya Ann Elias from IPH presented the findings of a study on the status of district health managers in Orissa and Karnataka.
N. Devadasan from IPH said the study aimed at examining the perceptions of public health administrators and the training programmes available for them. Four districts in Orissa and Karnataka were selected for the study through purposive sampling. The key findings included the need for training in public health management for government doctors and creation of separate cadres for clinical services and public health management, he said.
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Public Health Forum

2007-07-11T22:01:00.000+05:30

Institute of Public Health started the Public Health Forum to promote healthy dialogues and sharing of knowledge among people working on public health issues. Under this forum, we arrange monthly seminars on various public health issues. Such seminars include presentation by people having relevant expertise followed by open discussion among participants. We believe such initiative will build capacities of participating members for better public health practice. Past seminars under Public Health Forum included…

1. Community-based Monitoring in Health

2. National Rural Health Mission

3. Community-based Health Insurance

4. Health of the Urban Poor

Presentations on above topics can be downloaded by visiting…

http://www.iphindia.org/phforum.asp

* We encourage people from government departments, academic institutions, NGOs to contribute as a resource person to such seminars. We appreciate such contribution and suggest interested individuals to contact IPH team.

International Colloquium at ITM - Antwerp

2006-11-25T02:58:00.000+05:30

Dr N. Devadasan presented his preliminary research findings at the "International Colloquium: Tropical Medicine in the 21st Century: Switching the poles."

This conference was organised by the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium on the 23 of Nov 2006.

Details of the conference programme are available at www.itg.be

Details of the presentation are available at www.comhealthins.org