AIPH and Ravenshaw University offer a 2 year MPH program; bonus a certificate worth 18 credits from University of Nebraska Medical Center
1 comment May 22nd, 2011
IIPH Bhubaneswar starts with a 1 yr PG Diploma in Public Health Management
Note that currently this program (PG Diploma in Public Health Management) is not offered by AIPH Bhubaneswar. Currently AIPH offers a certificate in Public Health Management, PG Diploma in Public Health Informatics and MPH (in collaboration with Ravenshaw University).
May 4th, 2010
Admission notice for the Masters in Public Health program run by Ravenshaw University in collaboration with AIPH
April 26th, 2010
Realistic assessment of foreign universities coming to India by a Rutgers University Dean
I fully agree with this article by David Finegold in Indian Express. Following are some excerpts.
… Unfortunately, the proposed legislation to encourage the leading universities from around the world to set up campuses in India is unlikely to achieve the desired objectives. Below are 10 reasons why these top universities are not likely to come in the numbers projected, one possible exception to this scenario, and a suggested alternative approach to reform that could meet the desired objective more quickly.
… The timing of the bill could not have been worse for encouraging the world’s best universities to invest in creating new campuses.
… When Sibal toured the US in the fall of 2009 to recruit the leading private universities, part of his pitch was they should follow the lead of IT and business service multinationals and come to India because it offers a source of high-quality, low-cost talent. The problem with this analogy is that leading universities are not driven by a desire to lower labour costs or increase profits; … Rather, India should appeal to their desire to attract the world’s most able students,
…The bill likewise misunderstands the motives of many of the Indian students now travelling abroad to obtain their degrees. … This ignores the reality that, even with the huge growth in opportunities in the Indian economy, an equal or greater part of students’ motivation for studying abroad is the chance to get a job in that country after graduation.
… With a few notable exceptions — e.g. Wharton’s decision to create a small campus in Silicon Valley, the recent forays into Dubai and Singapore — most of the universities that India is seeking to recruit have resisted the temptation to grow for centuries, …
… As a subset of these universities looks to establish foreign campuses, they are likely to be most attracted to those countries which offer them generous incentives that both reduce upfront costs and the risks associated with global expansion. … India is not proposing any such financial inducements.
… those who opt for a PhD and are able to publish in the top academic journals in their field — the talent pool that would interest leading foreign universities — are in demand in a global labour market that enables them to work anywhere in the world. Attracting them or their peers from other countries to campuses in India would mean paying competitive salaries that would erase India’s cost advantage.
… The combined effect of the above factors is that those institutions which are most likely to be attracted to the Indian market are those that the Indian government least wants: the lower-quality providers that treat higher education as a way to make money, rather than focusing on world-class research and the quality of the learning experience.
... One attractive option for a few of the leading foreign universities might be the endowment of an Indian campus by a wealthy individual (perhaps one of their alumni) and/or corporation. This was the way in which many of India’s most respected private higher education institutions were first created — i.e. the Tata Institutes in different disciplines and The Indian School of Business — and how many of the leading private US universities (Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Duke) came into being. A key element that enabled these institutions to become and remain world-class, however, was that the founding individual/family gave the resources with relatively few strings attached, and allowed the university to govern itself, rather than the much more hands-on approach of many of the universities created more recently by Indian industrialists.
… However, an alternative strategy is already working. It promises to expand the quality and quantity of Indian higher education and provide greater benefits to the foreign universities. This strategy encourages the formation of more dual- or joint-degree partnerships between Indian and foreign institutions.
The writer is dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University. He and colleagues are conducting research for a book on “Developing the Skills of the 21st Century Workforce: Comparing the Education and Training Systems of India and China.”
The part in red is close to (but not 100%) what Vedanta University seems to be about. Unfortunately many in Odisha do not understand it.
The underlined part is already happening. One major instances is the partnership between Asian Institute of Public Health in Bhubaneswar and University of Maryland Medical school in Baltimore.
3 comments April 2nd, 2010
Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH) Bhubaneswar starts PG Diploma in Public Health Informatics; Signs MOU with Ravenshaw University to offer MPH
Update2: Excerpts from Expressbuzz.
An MoU was signed between Ravenshaw University Vice- Chancellor Devdas Chotray and AIPH founder secretary Dr Pinaki Panigrahi for the launch of the Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme. Besides imparting comprehensive skills in public health, the course would turn students into experts on occupational and environmental health, public health informatics and clinical and behavioural sciences. With an extensive hands-on experience, they will pass out as professionals ready to shoulder the challenges of the rise of chronic, infectious, occupational and environmental health problems that are vital contributors to high infant and maternal mortality in the State.
The first of its kind programme in Orissa is accreditated by the Council of Education on Public Health (CEPH) under the USA Government. The students would also gain credit points that would facilitate pursuance of higher studies in the US if they so willed.
But, foremost, the programme would churn out the much needed manpower in the State. There are at least 10,000 jobs for public health professionals in the district and block level under the National Rural health Mission. This apart, public health professionals are much sought after by private health sector enterprises, national and international agencies.
Update: Dharitri’s take on this.
The Asian Institute of Public Health in Bhubaneswar has announced a PG Diploma program in Public Health Informatics. This course will start in September 2010. Some details on the course obtained from their page http://www.aiph.ac.in/academics.html is as follows:
Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Informatics (24 Credits, 12 months course begins 1st September, 2010)
The objective of this course is to help individuals gain knowledge and skills in informatics concepts and applications and advance the use of informatics in risk assessment, disease monitoring and disease surveillance. The course provides an opportunity for the students to understand the information system architecture in public health, privacy, confidentiality and security issues related to health information systems. Graduate students from all disciplines are eligible for this course that will be offered online three times a year. The course consists of the following modules:
· Introduction to Public Health Informatics (IPHI) – Basics of public health informatics, core competencies of public health professionals, and systematic review of public health information systems.
· Foundation of Health Information Systems (FHIS) – This course is designed to help individuals gain knowledge and skills in public health standards, databases, privacy, confidentiality and security issues relevant to public health information systems.
· Applications of Public Health Informatics (APHI) – overview of clinical decision support systems, Geographic Information Systems, public health surveillance systems.
· Computer mediated Health Education and Health Promotion (CMHEHP) – Web based approaches to health education and health promotion, role of health literacy and varied learning needs of public health consumers and different stakeholders.
· A 12 credit informatics research project will be required to get the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health Informatics.
The institute seems to have a strong faculty. See http://www.aiph.ac.in/Indian.html.
Surendra K. Mishra, MSc, PGDA, DCS
Health systems, behavioural sciences research and communication, reproductive health
Ashish Joshi, MD, MPH
Public health informatics, health outcomes research, design of multi-component interventions
Niharika Khanna, MD, DCH
HPV epidemiology, cervical cancer, cancer vaccinesPrasanna Nair, MD, MPH
Maternal and child health, epidemiology, HIV/AIDS
P N Padmanabhan, PhD, FAAASc
Nutrition, non-invasive methods for monitoring gastrointestinal health, cancer prevention
Seba Mohapatra, MD
Maternal health, health systems
Pinaki Panigrahi, MD, PhD
Epidemiology, field surveillance, human research protection, clinical trialsP. K. Senapati, MD
Health systems, health care delivery and administration
S. Ramanathan, MPhil
Health economics and finance, reproductive health, gender and equity
Preethy Nayar, MBBS, MPhil, PhD
Health services research & administration, program and policy evaluation
Shireen Rajaram, PhD
Social and behavioral sciences, access to health care, health care disparity
Pritish Nanda, PGDHM, MPH
Health communication, hospital management, social mobilization, program managementE. Venkata Rao, MD
Epidemiology, financial management
Patrik Johansson, MD, MPH.
Health communication, community-based participatory research
Ayman El-Mohandes, MD, MPH
International health, program evaluationJ. Glenn Morris Jr, MD, MPH&TM
Infectious diseases, Cholera, emerging and re-emerging diseases
Ira H. Gewolb, MD
Newborn health, biostatisticsJudith A. Johnson, PhD
Infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance, clinical microbiologyMagda G. Peck, ScD
Leadership development and practice, childhood well being evaluation
Chandran Achutan, PhD
Occupational and environmental health
Hala Azzam, PhD, MPH
Workforce development and training, field assessments, HIV/AIDS
Hrishikesh Chakraborty, DrPH
Biostatistics, epidemiology, cluster randomized trials
James Sherry, MD,PhD
Health policy, international healthJaime Gofin, MD, PhD
Program evaluation, community-oriented primary careLi-Wu Chen, MHSA, PhD
Health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis, health care utilization by underserved population
KM Monirul Islam, MBBS, PhD
Epidemiology, international health, development of surveillance system and evaluation
Ge Lin, PhD
GIS and spatial statistics, statistic methods for defining and quantifying their spatial signals
This instiute will add to the public health offerings in India which include various IIPH offerings such as:
- IIPH Delhi: PG Diploma in (a) Clinical Research (b) Public Health Management and (c) Health Economics, Health Care Financing and Health Policy
- IIPH Hyderabad: PG Diploma in (a) Biostatistics and Data Management
- IIPH Gandhinagar: PG Diploma in (a) Public Health Management
The IIPH in Bhubaneswar (different from the AIPH) is also scheduled to start in July 2010. The AIPH and IIPH in Bhubaneswar will make Bhubaneswar a strong public health education destination. I hope both will spread their wings across Odisha so that some of the current public health issues of interior Odisha are adequately addressed. I am told AIPH is already doing that and has research projects involving interior and tribal Odisha.
Pioneer reports today that AIPH has signed an MOU with Ravenshaw University. This is a great partnership and beneficial to both.
5 comments March 27th, 2010
Asian Institute of Public Health starts offering courses
See details at its web page http://www.aiph.ac.in/. See also this press release.
4 comments December 6th, 2008
Asian Institute of Public Health to come up in Orissa
Update 2: Telegraph also reports on it.
Update: A report in Hindu has some more details. Following are some excerpts:
AIPH is starting with small programmes such as Certificate in Public Health Management. The institute would be located over a 50-acre land near Jatni, on the outskirt of the capital city. Promoters of the institute plan to invest Rs. 15 crores immediately to start the programme with the help of some guest faculties from the USA.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, David J. Ramsay, president of University of Maryland, said “We will build different centres of excellence under the umbrella of AIPH. I have allocated matching funds in our efforts to secure financial support for infrastructure building. Very soon, AIPH will bring US-based faculty and experts to Orissa for teach, training and conducting research.”
AIPH Secretary Pinaki Panigrahi claimed the institute would be the first of its kind as India had 209 medical colleges whereas there was no full-fledged public health school. But in USA there were 129 medical schools and 33 public health institutes, he added. “The institute will prepare workforce to help formulate and implement health programmes in the country,” Dr. Panigrahi said.
The new institute has roped in several Indian-based teaching faculties as well as US-based experts to take forward different specialized programmes in its campus.
Among others AIPH President N. K Ganguly, who was former director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), was present on the occasion.
Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.
With disease burden not showing any signs of decline despite advancement in therapeutic sciences across the world, the focus of public health has shifted to prevention.
The future of a healthy society hinges on securing the populace from afflictions by way of inducing suitable changes in lifestyle and societal atmosphere and also, very importantly, increasing immunity through vaccination, said President of University of Maryland Baltimore, (UMB), USA, David J Ramsey today.
Ramsey told this paper that worldwide, intensive efforts are on to develop vaccines for diseases that have the greatest impact on the population and not on individuals. The UMB has already developed a vaccine for cholera, which is being successfully implemented in South American countries. Progress is being made in the efforts to formulate a vaccine for malaria, AIDS and several other prevalent diseases in the stateof- the-art facility at the University.
But the challenge lies in implementation of the interventions to check outbreaks. Public health is still not considered a different domain from medical or clinical streams in most parts of the world, particularly developing countries including India.‘‘
The realm of public health basically involves collating biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health services administration, and social and behavioural sciences so that prevention and treatment initiatives and policies would be well-directed and most effective,’’ the head of the prestigious institute said.
And, in an initiative aimed at strengthening the public health sector in India as well as the sub-continental countries by producing skilled professionals to carry out operational research to develop sustainable health-care delivery models, the Asian Institute of Public Health (AIPH), a partner of UMB, is set to take shape here from Sunday.
The first of its kind institute in the country, with support of the Orissa Government, would offer courses on Public Health Management, Management development programmes on ‘Surveillance, Epidemic Preparedness and Response’, ‘Biostatistics and Research Methodologies’, ‘Biomedical Waste Management and Handling’, ‘Good clinical Practice of Clinical research’ and ‘Emerging issues in public health’. The target scholars would include medical officers, AYUSH doctors, personnel from health agencies, Government health administrators, social scientists, corporate sector managers dealing with health programmes, paramedics, sanitation workers, NGOs, etc. The courses have been designed and be certified by UMB, AIPH secretary Dr Pinaki Panigrahi said.
The above articles do not mention the Indian Institutes of Public Health being built in India, three of which mention that they are offering post-graduate diploma starting fromn the 2008-09 session. Following is an excerpt.
The Indian Institutes of Public Health at Delhi, Gandhinagar, and Hyderabad would be offering the following Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) Programs in the academic year 2008-09:
IIPH, Delhi: PGD in Health Economics and Policy IIPH, Gandhinagar: PGD in Public Health Management IIPH, Hyderabad: PGD in Biostatistics and Data Management
If done right the AIPH can surpass the IIPHs, mainly because a well known professor Dr. Pinaki Panigrahi is behind it and his university, The University of Maryland at Baltimore, is an active collaborator on this. The Orissa govt. may take advantage of the AIPH and push for an IIPH next to it. They have discussed with PHFI, but its plan (see here and here) in Orissa is not clear.
Also, note that in the PHFI/IIPH model companies, state and the center (through PHFI) fund the IIPHs. Orissa government should help AIPH in a similar manner: contribute a similar amount, ask companies to contribute and ask the center to contribute. To get an idea of the PPP nature and the amount used to fund IIPH, following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.
Industry leaders came forward to pump in Rs. 30 crore to make Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), an arm of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), commence its first-ever postgraduate diploma course in biostatistics and data management from July this year.
The Union Government through PHFI had sanctioned Rs. 60 crore, while the State Government allotted 43 acres in Rajendranagar and sanctioned Rs. 30 crore for the IIPH. The new governing council assumed charge on Saturday. Addressing a press conference here, G.V. Krishna Reddy, chairman of the governing council, said he, along with G.V. Prasad of Dr. Reddy’s Labs, G. Mallikarjuna Rao of GMR Group, N. Prasad of Matrix Labs, B. Rama Raju of Satyam Group, and SriniRaju of iLabs, would together donate Rs. 30 crore.
6 comments November 2nd, 2008