PHM-Exch> India: summary of National Conference on Bringing Evidence into Public Health Policy

[Claudio Schuftan]

    From:    upendra at iphindia.org

For conference materials visit
www.ephp.in<http://ephp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=43bec4b190c72c27ed90dbb1a&id=c129134987&e=4043c2d18f>

*300 delegates in EPHP came together to deliberate on strengthening health
system to achieve UHC*

The second national conference on Bringing Evidence into Public Health
Policy (EPHP) was held in October 5-6, 2012. It brought together twenty
policy makers and more than hundred researchers, and public health
practitioners who engaged in active discussions on several themes around
‘Strengthening health system to achieve universal health coverage’.  The
conference had close to hundred students participating in the deliberations
as they make their inroads into learning the art of doing health systems
research.

*‘A much needed forum’: Policy and research lens*
Policy makers shared their insights on how there are fewer opportunities
and forums for dialogue between policy makers and researchers. This is
despite the fact that all policy makers/implementers inevitably seek
answers to health system challenges which emerge from research evidence.
EPHP was seen as filling in this critical gap. EPHP was also seen as an
important forum for bringing together researchers working on health policy
and systems in India and promoting exchange of ideas and insights on this
emerging field of research. Dr. Ravi Narayan, Community Health Advisor,
SOCHARA in his concluding remarks said that ‘EPHP is a forum that can
facilitate the presence of global south health system researchers at an
international level’.

*“Strengthening health systems to achieve UHC”*

The many presentations and discussions during the conference dealt with
different domains of both health systems and UHC, and helped bring them
together. The need for further exploring health systems research in the
context of UHC strongly emerged through the sessions. The difference in
perception of the role of the private and public sectors towards achieving
UHC also emerged to be a key issue debated across researchers and policy
makers. The need for political commitment, the complexity of health systems
research and the role of the community were few of the other most discussed
topics.

*An opportunity to review the conference abstracts again: BMC proceedings
Vol 6 Suppl 5*

The collection of proceedings of EPHP 2012 has been published online in the
BMC proceedings Volume 6 as a separate supplement. The BMC proceedings is
an online, open access journal which publishes proceedings of conferences
which are of a cross- or multi-disciplinary nature. All the conference
abstracts are available freely and are permanently accessible online
here<http://ephp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=43bec4b190c72c27ed90dbb1a&id=19f3bd9991&e=4043c2d18f>
.

*Towards UHC: An operational manual for States in India launched
IPH took the discussions and recommendations towards operationalising UHC a
step further by preparing a document that brings together a few practical
tools necessary to understand how UHC may be planned at the State level.
This manual is specifically designed for State level policy makers and
implementers. A pre-publication verison is available on our IPH website
www.iphindia.org<http://ephp.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=43bec4b190c72c27ed90dbb1a&id=68161c0b78&e=4043c2d18f>,
but the book itself can be ordered on Amazon
here<http://ephp.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=43bec4b190c72c27ed90dbb1a&id=6101d6efd8&e=4043c2d18f>
. *

*ePHM (e learning course for public health managers) launched

Prof. Bruno Gryssels formally inaugurated the ePHM course during EPHP. The
course which is the first of its kind in India aims to equip health
managers with necessary knowledge and skills for managing health programmes
at various levels in the health system. This one year course offers 12
modules on different aspects of public health management. The course will
start in January 2013. *
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