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Launch Event: The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System

Launch Event: The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System

Join us next Friday, December 11, for the launch event of the Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System. The Lancet Citizens’ Commission is an ambitious, cross-sectoral endeavor that is working to develop a citizens’ roadmap to achieve universal health coverage throughout India. The Commission will be the first participatory, country-wide report of its scale to be published by the Lancet, a leading international medical journal that has paved the way for medical reforms and global health discussions around the world.

Anupam Sah: Finding a Balance in the Art and Science of Heritage Conservation

Anupam Sah: Finding a Balance in the Art and Science of Heritage Conservation

Until recently, expertise from outside of South Asia has been crucial to informing practices around cultural conservation, but efforts need to be made to understand and adapt to the regional context and nuances. The current state of research and practice of conservation in India is in a nascent stage and is faced by the overwhelming task of the safekeeping and conservation of India’s vast material and intangible cultural heritage. We spoke with Anupam Sah, the Head of Conservation at the CSMVS Museum, to learn more about the status of art and heritage conservation in India. Anupam Sah will be moderating an upcoming two-part seminar series on December 10, “Art and Science of Heritage Conservation: Finding the Right Balance.”

Evaluating the Prevalence of COVID-19 in India

Evaluating the Prevalence of COVID-19 in India

Recently, a discussion moderated by Richard Cash, Senior Lecturer on Global Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, brought together Satchit Balsari, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Manoj Mohanan, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Economics, and Global Health at Duke University, to discuss “A Class Apart: COVID-19 Seroprevalence in India.” Together, they explored the findings and implications of a recent seroprevalence survey (the number of individuals in a population who test positive for a specific disease based on serology specimens) conducted by Professor Mohanan’s team in India.

Video: Models of Innovation: Education in South Asia

Video: Models of Innovation: Education in South Asia

Emmerich Davies, Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, recently moderated a discussion with panelists Ayaz Aziz (Manager, Online Education, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center), Nishant Pandey (CEO, American India Foundation), Rumee Singh (Founder, Katha4Nepal), and Haroon Yasin (Co-founder and CEO, Orenda) as they showcased their innovative models of education delivery in times of the pandemic.

Video: The US Election’s Impact on South Asia

Video: The US Election’s Impact on South Asia

Ronak Desai, Research Associate at the Mittal Institute, recently moderated a discussion between Ambassador Nirupama Rao, Former Foreign Secretary of India, and Vipin Narang, Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT, as they explored how the potential outcomes of the US presidential election may impact the region of South Asia.

Hands-on STEM Education with the Soft Robotics Toolkit

Hands-on STEM Education with the Soft Robotics Toolkit

The education system in India relies heavily on traditional ways of teaching. However, evidence suggests that active, exploratory learning rather than traditional knowledge–sharing has a more constructive impact on academic performance, creating more motivation and ongoing interest in the subject as it puts the student in direct contact with the learning materials. The Soft Robotic Toolkit, part of the Mittal Institute’s Multidisciplinary Approach to Innovative Social Enterprises supported by Tata Trusts, uses active, hands-on pedagogy to provide cutting edge, high-quality STEM learning.

Partition’s Legacy: South Asian Art on the Line

Partition’s Legacy: South Asian Art on the Line

Recently, the Mittal Institute teamed up with the Peabody Essex Museum for a discussion on “Partition’s Legacy: South Asian Art on the Line.” Post-independent South Asia is depicted in many forms, with the intent to make sense of its complexities. After the Partition of the subcontinent along the Radcliffe Line, the socio-political ruptures and conflicts that ensued created numerous questions.

Re-envisioning Education in India and Nepal During the Pandemic

Re-envisioning Education in India and Nepal During the Pandemic

Education has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic as a record number of children are not attending schools due to lockdowns and social-distancing protocols in effect across the world. The crisis has also laid bare the many inequities and inadequacies in the existing education systems around the world, and especially in South Asia. We spoke with Nishant Pandey, the CEO of American India Foundation (AIF), and Rumee Singh, the Founder of Katha4Nepal — two distinguished organizations that have accomplished remarkable work in the field of education delivery during the pandemic.

How Will the 2020 US Election Impact South Asia?

Video: The US Election’s Impact on South Asia

Earlier this week, Ronak Desai, Research Associate at the Mittal Institute, moderated a discussion between Ambassador Nirupama Rao, Former Foreign Secretary of India, and Vipin Narang, Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT, as they explored how the potential outcomes of the US presidential election may impact the region of South Asia.

Reimagining Delivery of Mental Healthcare in Under-Resourced Communities

Reimagining Delivery of Mental Healthcare in Under-Resourced Communities

Even though mental disorders contribute significantly to the burden of illness in India — making it a nationwide public health priority — most of those affected do not receive evidence-based intervention. In low- and middle-income countries, such as India, non-specialist workers are key in providing healthcare to rural areas. Growing evidence demonstrates that with appropriate training and supervision, they can effectively deliver brief psychological treatments for mental disorders. However, the efforts to scale up these initiatives are prevented by a heavy reliance on the traditional methods of face-to-face training and supervision.

The Power of Dance in Times of Change

The Power of Dance in Times of Change

Art is known to transcend barriers and boundaries, binding people across race, religion, and geographies. Dance holds the unique power of bringing relief into a world struggling under the gloom of uncertainty. However, the physical restrictions placed on performers due to the ongoing pandemic have enforced a radical re-imagination of the ways in which dance culture can be practiced and disseminated across the world. Last week, as part of the Harvard Worldwide Week, dance teams representing three global centers and institutes of Harvard University convened to present a program called “Channels of Expression in Times of Change: Music and Dance Across Continents.”