Publications & Resources
Our faculty, students and researchers work together everyday to contribute to a better world by grappling with urgent problems we are facing in India. We conduct rigorous work to produce high quality learning resources and publications to contribute to public discourse and social change. Here, we feature a sample from our work for everyone to access. You can explore featured resources, policies, and the latest publications from the University.
To explore all the work of our University, please visit our publications repository.
Article
Contexts and Priorities: Reflections on Developing a Master of Public Health Programme in India
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
- School of Development
Abstract
While the recent COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated attention to the public health challenges of our times, many of these concerns are certainly not new. There are multiple public health concerns including the rising burden of non-communicable diseases, health risks due to environmental degradation and climate change, and re-emergence of several communicable diseases. Responses to these challenges, including educational responses, have often been reductionist and hence found to be inadequate. There has been an increasing global recognition of the need for transformative education to address the complex health challenges of the 21st century. In this article, we discuss one such effort in designing a public health education programme in India that echoes the sentiment of transformative learning that is contextual, competency-driven, trans disciplinary, reflective, and collaborative. We discuss how these aspects of learning were reflected and considered through a series of internal deliberations within the university and external consultations with different stakeholders. This process involved examining existing gaps in public health education, articulating the core competencies, developing the curriculum, and envisaging students’ contribution to public health practice in India.
Authors:
Arima Mishra, Adithya Pradyumna, Mukta Gundi, Edward Premdas Pinto and Prasanna Saligram
Links
Article
“I pray to God that greed never sets in”: Community health workers’ reflections on “care” during the COVID-19 pandemic
in Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
- Published
- Authors
- Arima Mishra
- Sanjana Santosh
Abstract
Background: Care provision received renewed attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as several healthcare providers vied for the coveted title of “frontline warrior” while they struggled to provide care efficiently under varying health system constraints. While several studies on the health workforce during the pandemic highlighted their difficulties, there is little reflection on what “care” or “caring” itself meant specifically for community health workers (CHWs) as they navigated different community and health systems settings. The study aimed to examine CHWs’ caregiving experiences during the pandemic.
Methods: Twenty narrative interviews with CHWs including ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) and ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) were conducted in different states between July and December 2020.
Results: Our findings highlight the moral, affectual, and relational dimensions of care in the CHWs’ engagement with their routine and Covid-19 related services, as well as the “technical” aspects of it. In this article, we argue that these two aspects are, in fact, enmeshed in complex ways. CHWs extend this moral understanding not just to their work, but also to their relationship with the health system and the government, as they express a deep sense of neglect and the lack of “being cared for” by the health system.
Conclusion: CHWs’ experiences demand a more nuanced understanding of the ethics of care or caring that challenges the binaries between the “technical” and moral aspects of care.
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