The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University

The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System is a cross-sectoral initiative founded in 2020 to develop a roadmap to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in India. It consists of members from a broad spectrum of expertise and viewpoints and has conducted several research studies over the last four years. This includes a representative survey of 50,000 households on their experiences, preferences, and expectations of the healthcare system, a mixed-methods study across six districts in India, and the design of a new index that relies on routinely collected data to assess the achievement of UHC at the district level. Co-chairs include Prof. Tarun Khanna, Mittal Institute Faculty Director, and Prof. Vikram Patel, Mittal Institute Steering Committee member.   The final report is scheduled to be published in 'The Lancet' in 2025. Stay tuned by subscribing to the project’s newsletter: https://lnkd.in/enqH7BM

📚 Check out this winter reading recommendation from Arpit Shah, Raghunathan Fellow, Mittal Institute: “This book is a fantastic exploration of the colonial roots of the opioid crisis that continues to exist today in many parts of the world, including the United States. Ghosh brilliantly articulates how the European colonial regimes were, in fact, precursors of today’s drug cartels.” We would also love to hear some of your recommendations. Tag us with #HarvardSouthAsiaReads. Happy reading!

🌟 One week left to apply! 🌟 Artists from around South Asia are invited to apply for a Mittal Institute Visiting Artist Fellowship. Applications are open until January 2, 2025, for the following program dates: Fall: Sept 20 – Nov 15, 2025 Spring: Feb 20 – April 15, 2026 ➡️ To learn more, visit our website (https://bit.ly/VAFApply) or watch the recording of a recent info session (https://lnkd.in/eQynbVFn)!

The India Digital Health Network (IDHN), based at the Mittal Institute, is an interdisciplinary team of experts from medicine, computer science, data science, and law. Since 2017, a team led by Satchit Balsari, Associate Professor in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has helped shape the policy landscape and technical framework of India’s digital health ecosystem.     The project addresses barriers to digitizing India’s health system, such as a lack of focus on end users’ needs, difficulties in implementing data privacy frameworks, and unstructured and inefficient information flows.    Recently, the team concluded a study on India’s Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) screening and management tool and started a new study to explore the digital health needs of over 150 stakeholders ranging from community health workers to investors.    Learn more about IDHN on the project’s website: https://lnkd.in/eyWwwcBW

📚 Check out this winter reading recommendation from Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School: “I’d like to recommend a memoir that is less well-known: Kenneth Rose’s ‘The Light of the Self: A Memoir of a Spiritual Awakening’ (2019). And it’s personal to me, too: I, too, was born Catholic in Brooklyn in the same era and have engaged in the study of Hindu traditions for over 50 years. It is so intriguing to ponder the similarities and differences between his journey and mine.” We would also love to hear some of your recommendations. Tag us with #HarvardSouthAsiaReads. Happy reading!

The Mittal Institute wishes everyone a Happy New Year filled with light and joy 🎉 Please note that our Cambridge and India offices will be closed from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1, reopening on Jan. 2. 📷 Himalayas, Nepal

🌟 Two weeks left to apply! 🌟 Artists from around South Asia are invited to apply for a Mittal Institute Visiting Artist Fellowship. Applications are open until January 2, 2025, for the following program dates: Fall: Sept 20 – Nov 15, 2025 Spring: Feb 20 – April 15, 2026 ➡️ To learn more, visit our website (https://bit.ly/VAFApply) or watch the recording of last week's info session (https://lnkd.in/eQynbVFn)!

Caleb Dresser MD MPH, Director of Healthcare Solutions and Faculty, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health collaborated with Aditya Valiathan Pillai and Bhargav Krishna, Convenors of Sustainable Futures Collaborative to assess how heat affects emergency care systems and identify policy approaches to strengthen health security against climate challenges. Building on research supported by the Mittal Institute India office through a faculty grant, the findings of the project aim to guide adaptation strategies for Indian healthcare in a rapidly warming world. On November 29th, healthcare professionals and public health experts convened virtually to discuss the research findings. The roundtable examined the rising impact of extreme heat exposure, including reports from Indian health professionals of increased healthcare utilization and cases of heat-related illness ranging from heat stroke to dehydration, emphasizing the critical link between health outcomes, cooling access, and water security. The speakers called for integrating climate change into medical curricula, forming climate-focused hospital subcommittees, and ensuring sustainable water access. Read more about it here: https://lnkd.in/gjNm83Uy Image 1: Attendees at the workshop on heat and healthcare in India Image 2: Where were survey respondents located Image 3: How did patients with heat-related medical problems present clinically

#ICYMI: Last month, a Brown-Harvard Joint Seminar on South Asian Politics explored the November 1970 Bhola cyclone in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Mushfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economics at Yale University, provided empirical evidence that the cyclone's devastation and the Pakistani government's "callous response" to it were galvanizing support for an independence movement that resulted in the formation of Bangladesh in 1971. Martha Chen, Mittal Institute Steering Committee member, gave an eyewitness account after Prof. Mobarak's talk. Check out the photos and watch the recording on our YouTube page: https://lnkd.in/gwNhru9S

📚 Check out this winter reading recommendation from Swayam Bagaria, Assistant Professor of Hindu Studies, Harvard Divinity School: “I recommend ‘Chhaunk’ by Abhijit Banerjee. I am fascinated by our relationship to food as a microcosmic reflection of our engagement with the larger world of economic tradeoffs, ingredient supply chains, taste formation, preservation of inter-generational knowledge, social bonding, and cultural affinities.” We would also love to hear some of your recommendations. Tag us with #HarvardSouthAsiaReads. Happy reading!