More than a year into the pandemic, Pakistan is fighting the third wave that is sweeping across its main urban centers. The hospitalization statistics increased manifold compared to the first and the second wave. However, after a relentless increase, the statistics are now beginning to register a slight respite. The seven-day moving average of the positive percentage now stands at 9.8%. Despite this trend, caution needs to reign supreme.
Our political class must set aside differences to act quickly and with compassion to ensure economic security and well-being of the vulnerable, as we fight back second wave of Covid-19, says Vikram Patel in an Op-Ed for The Indian Express.
A fundraiser by South Asian students in the US in support of India’s fight against Covid-19. The fundraiser is running in partnership with GiveIndia, which works closely with organizations on the ground to address critical needs. The platform provides transparent information on fund disbursement and accepts USD, INR and other currencies.
On Monday, April 19, a panel of experts came together to discuss innovations in the public health sector, translating health research into practice, and the challenges of creating an enabling environment for these innovations to thrive.
The years of post-mortem that follow will dissect how we arrived here. But for now, the path out of the current inferno requires unwavering commitment to science, and perhaps tremendous rectitude. Let us examine what we can do in the coming months.
The Global Alliance for Medical Innovation, a group of students and faculty based at
Harvard University working to increase access to healthcare via engineering and advocacy, was awarded a Mittal Institute Seed for Change grant in summer 2020. Their proposal explored the development of low-cost, scalable technologies to allow point-of-care diagnosis of common eye disorders in under-resourced regions of the globe.
This past Fall, the Mittal Institute began a program, Conservation of Culture, designed to support scholarship in art and conservation management, partnering with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) Museum in Mumbai, the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Conservation Center, and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.
Through a collaboration between the Tata Trusts and the Mittal Institute, Project Empower is working to bridge the mental health provider gap in India by building a digital platform to provide virtual training and supervision to community health workers as they identify and treat common mental health disorders.
Panelists from around the globe gathered to explore the new book by Professor Ian Talbot, Director of the Centre for Imperial and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Southampton and Research Affiliate at the Mittal Institute. The book, The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan, is the first study of the history of British diplomacy in Pakistan. It covers seven decades of British diplomacy in Pakistan, from 1947 through the “War on Terror.”
India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer, generates 80% of its energy from coal, oil and biomass. To meet its future projected growth, the International Energy Agency in Paris says that India will need to add an electric power system the size of the EU’s every 20 years. It has made great strides, including ensuring each village is connected to the power grid, and its solar PV deployment program is one of the world’s ambitious. Yet it faces many challenges – energy poverty, access to clean water, increased road transportation, and high temperatures that yield a demand for air conditioning.
On March 26, the Building Bharat Boston Biosciences (B4) program held a two-session online webinar to mark the conclusion of its final phase. The Building Bharat-Boston Biosciences (B4) Program is the second iteration of the earlier Boston-Bangalore Biosciences Beginnings Program. Funded by the Department of Biotechnology within the Government of India, the B4 program is a collaboration between the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) in Bangalore, the Harvard Global Research Support Centre India, and the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University.
The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program, a fully-funded academic and professional development opportunity for low-income, first-generation college students, is cultivating a dynamic network of young leaders spanning over 135 countries. In its fourth iteration—and second virtual iteration—Crossroads brought together program alumni, Harvard faculty and industry mentors to welcome interested students to the Crossroads community.