Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru

World Sickle Cell Day 2026: Creating Awareness Among Young Learners

World Sickle Cell Day, observed annually on 19 June, seeks to raise awareness about Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and the challenges faced by those affected by it. The 2026 global theme, “Closing the Survival Gap: Equity in Sickle Cell Disease,” highlights the need for equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, and care.

To mark the occasion, an awareness programme on Sickle Cell Disease was organised at the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana kendra (VGKK) School for students from Classes 5 to 9. Around 120 students participated in the session, which aimed to improve understanding of the disease and address common misconceptions surrounding it.

The programme began with an interactive presentation by Community Medicine postgraduate scholars from the Chamarajanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS), who introduced students to the basics of Sickle Cell Disease. Through simple explanations and relatable examples, the session helped students understand how the disease is inherited, its signs and symptoms, potential complications, and the importance of early diagnosis and treatment.

An educational video further reinforced these messages, making complex concepts easier to grasp. The students actively participated in a lively question-and-answer session, demonstrating curiosity and enthusiasm to learn more about the condition.

Adding an international perspective to the programme, medical students from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore, conducted a brief awareness session highlighting the importance of understanding SCD and supporting individuals affected by the disease.

A key focus of the programme was to address common myths, misconceptions, and stigma surrounding Sickle Cell Disease, encouraging students to become informed and empathetic members of their communities.

The event was attended by WP-3 staff members, VGKK Hospital staff, VGKK school teachers, interns from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and students from Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore, whose collective efforts contributed to making the session both informative and engaging.

By empowering young learners with knowledge, the programme sought to foster greater awareness of Sickle Cell Disease and encourage informed conversations about health within their communities.

As conversations on public policy increasingly grapple with complex global challenges, researchers from the Centre for Commercial Determinants of Health (C-CDOH) contributed their perspectives at the 6th India Public Policy Network (IPPN) Conference, hosted by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, from 8–11 June 2026.

Bringing together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from across the country, the conference explored the theme, “Public Policy Praxis in the Global South: Building Coherence for Capacity for Future Challenges.” The event provided a platform to examine how public policy can respond to emerging social, economic, environmental, and health challenges in rapidly changing contexts.

Representing C-CDoH, Dr Abhinav Tyagi, Fellow, examined “The Green Energy Transition and Governance: The Infrastructural Challenges in the Integration of Renewable Energy,” highlighting the governance and infrastructure considerations shaping the transition toward sustainable energy systems.

The conference also featured a presentation by Dr Malu Mohan, Fellow, and Dr Satyanarayan Kumbhakar, Senior Research Associate presented their work on “Financialization, Regulation, and Market Containment in the Indian Healthcare System: A Comparative Policy Analysis.” Their work explored the evolving relationship between markets, regulation, and healthcare delivery, offering insights into the policy mechanisms that influence health system performance and equity.

Adding a critical Global South perspective to contemporary public health debates, Dr Sreenidhi Sreekumar presented “Interrogating the Commercial Determinants of Health Discourse: A Global South Critique.” The presentation reflected on how dominant narratives around commercial determinants of health are shaped and the importance of centering perspectives from low- and middle-income countries in these discussions.

Together, these presentations reflected the CCDoH's commitment to examining the structural, economic, and governance dimensions of contemporary policy challenges. By contributing to discussions on health systems, energy transitions, and public health governance, C-CDoH researchers helped advance critical conversations on building more equitable and resilient futures in the Global South.

The Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru (IPH Bengaluru) is inviting applications for the position of Project Technical Support Officer III.

The role involves coordinating field activities across Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), community mobilisation initiatives, trainings, stakeholder engagement meetings, and dental camps in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts. The selected candidate will work closely with research teams, district health officials, healthcare workers, and community stakeholders to support implementation, coordination, and data collection activities under the project.

📍 Location: Mysuru (with extensive travel within Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts)

🕒 Duration: 1-year contract (renewable based on performance and project extension)

📅 Application Deadline Extended: 24 June 2026

📩 For detailed information and to apply: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dmeh0yEaz52NebQcVRfEGYkWSLHFMZW3/view?usp=drive_link

🌐 Know more about us: https://iphbengaluru.res.in/

Institute of Public Health Bengaluru and the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM) have formalised a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) marking over two decades of partnership built on equity, mutual learning, and shared commitment to health systems strengthening.

The MoU covers joint course offerings in Health Policy and Systems Research, Implementation Research, and Realist Evaluation; co-design of new courses under IPH's T. T. Narasimhan School of Advanced Studies; internship and PhD co-supervision opportunities; collaborative grant applications; joint working groups; and faculty exchange programs.

IPH Bengaluru and ITM have built substantial and comparable technical expertise through collaborative capacity building that has produced several PhDs, MPHs, and numerous faculty members who have pursued short courses, alongside pioneering work in health policy and systems research, eLearning programs, and evidence-based public health practice.

The foundation established through various collaborative activities has evolved into a thriving partnership encompassing faculty exchange programs, the Evidence for Public Health Policy (EPHP) Conference, and current research collaborations on topics ranging from oral health, realist evaluation, to***co policies, and health governance, among others, that have provided invaluable global exposure and mutual capacity-building.

📢 Insight Thursday @ IPH Bengaluru

We are pleased to feature Prasanna Saligram, a public health professional whose interdisciplinary journey spans engineering, global health, and public policy. His work engages deeply with the political economy of health, health systems governance, and regulation of the private sector, along with active involvement in civil society movements and public health initiatives.

In this edition of Insight Thursday, he will be speaking on the Right to Health Act, drawing from his academic work, policy engagements, and experiences working across research and civil society spaces.

Join us as he shares his insights and experiences in this edition of Insight Thursday.

📅 Date: July 02 2026

🕞 Time: 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

📍 Venue: IPH Bengaluru Campus

🔗 Scan the QR code on the poster to register.

We look forward to an engaging and thought-provoking session.

📄 Behind the Paper

How do we move beyond screening, diagnosis, and treatment to truly understand what it means to live with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)?

In Beyond the Diagnosis: Lived Experiences of People with Sickle Cell Disease in South India, V Swathi, Pooja Aggarwal, Fahima Khanum, and Deepa Bhat explore the lived realities of persons with SCD in tribal communities of Chamarajanagar, Karnataka through sustained field engagement and in-depth conversations with patients and caregivers. The study was motivated by field observations that the burden of SCD is shaped not only by clinical symptoms but also by social and structural realities that remain less visible in routine care.

The findings highlight that experiences of SCD are deeply shaped by stigma and fear of disclosure, misconceptions around inheritance and treatment, emotional distress, and the strong influence of family and traditional healing practices. The study also draws attention to the unfair blame often placed on women for the disease within families and communities, reflecting persistent misconceptions about inheritance and underscoring the need to rethink awareness and counselling strategies. These challenges are further compounded by socioeconomic and geographic barriers that disrupt access to continuous care, affecting treatment adherence and overall well-being.

For IPH Bengaluru, the study reinforces the importance of centring lived experiences in public health practice. It highlights the need for culturally sensitive counselling, stronger community engagement, and health systems that build trust and respond to local contexts. The key learning is that effective SCD care must go beyond biomedical treatment to address the social, cultural, and economic realities that shape everyday health-seeking behaviour.

🔗 Read the paper here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42201526/

From WHO in 2014 to returning to global health a decade later in 2025–26, this journey is less about going back and more about seeing differently.

In this reflection, Rajeev B R, Assistant Professor at IPH Bengaluru, writes from his IHP/EV Residency at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and from spaces like the World Health Summit in Berlin.

But the question that quietly runs through this piece is powerful:

Where does real change in global health actually begin? In global rooms or in local realities?

A thoughtful and honest reflection on agenda-setting, visibility, power, and the persistent gap between global conversations and ground realities.

Read the full blog here: https://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/featured-article/returning-to-global-health-a-reflection-on-my-ihp-ev-residency/

Returning to Global Health: A Reflection on my IHP/EV Residency I was an intern at the World Health Organisation in 2014, convinced that global health was where change happened. I returned to it in 2025 as an IHP/EV Resident at the International Health Policies (IHP) network and blog hosted at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium.

Three days of learning. Three days of dialogue. Three days of reimagining what stronger and more equitable health systems can look like.

As comes to a close, we leave with a deeper appreciation of the complexity of today's health challenges and the collective effort required to address them. Over the past three days, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, community leaders, and students came together to explore themes ranging from health systems strengthening and primary healthcare to climate resilience, equity, participation, partnerships, and the future of public health.

What stood out was not only the diversity of perspectives, but also a shared commitment to building health systems that are more equitable, responsive, and resilient. Across plenaries, policy conversations, oral presentations, workshops, and informal discussions, the conference created space for critical reflection, learning, and dialogue on some of the most pressing issues facing health systems today.

While the conference may have concluded, the conversations certainly have not. Over the coming days, we will continue sharing highlights, key learnings, memorable discussions, and reflections from . Stay tuned as we revisit some of the ideas and insights that shaped these three inspiring days.

A special acknowledgement to the communications team that worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring you live updates, highlights, and reflections throughout the conference. Thank you, Vaibhav Agavane, Praveen Rao S, Sneha Fathima S, Ramya Krishna B M, Dr. Raghavi Manjunath, Swet Savaliya, Dr Swethini Malaravan, Nisarga MN, Dr Akash B R, and Alrick Sam, for helping capture the conversations, insights, and energy of and sharing them with audiences near and far.

Lasting health system change depends not on isolated innovations, but on institutions that can sustain, scale, and learn from them.

The Closing Plenary at brought together reflections on implementation research, governance, financing, decentralization, and health system resilience. Moderated by Dr. Dr. Pragati Hebbar, Dean, T. T. Narasimhan School of Advanced Studies at IPH Bengaluru, the discussion focused on one of public health's most persistent challenges: how to move from evidence generation to meaningful and lasting reform.

Opening the conversation, Pragya Sharma, Executive Director, National Health Systems Resource Centre - NHSRC India emphasized the importance of strengthening connections between researchers, implementers, and policymakers. Drawing on platforms such as Implementation Research for Health System Strengthening (IRHSS), she highlighted the need for state-specific research priorities, stronger implementation pathways, and effective knowledge management systems that can help successful innovations inform policy and practice.

Dr. Tarun Seem, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Indian Revenue Service, reflected on why many promising health innovations struggle to move beyond pilot projects. He argued that sustained political commitment, financing, institutional capacity, and meaningful decentralization are essential for reforms to endure. Responsibilities, he noted, must be matched with authority, resources, and accountability if local systems are to respond effectively to emerging challenges.

Offering an example of successful institutionalization, Dr. Girija Vaidyanathan, Former Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, reflected on Tamil Nadu's public health journey. She attributed its achievements to long-term political commitment, strong technical leadership, administrative continuity, and sustained investment in public systems. Programmes such as the Noon Meal Scheme and continuous improvements in neonatal care demonstrated how innovations can become embedded within routine governance when supported over time.

The discussion also explored broader questions of financing, data systems, and accountability. As the conference drew to a close, the plenary offered a powerful reminder: evidence creates opportunities for change, but lasting reform depends on public institutions that can learn, adapt, and respond to the needs of the populations they serve.

What counts in policy and what remains invisible? This question ran through the second Policy Conversations session at , moderated by Dr. Prashanth N Srinivas, Professor and Director, IPH Bengaluru, as panellists reflected on the intersections of climate change, surveillance, social determinants, and health policymaking.

Opening the discussion, Dr. Prabhdeep Kaur, Professor and Chair, Isaac Centre for Public Health, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, examined the state of NCD and climate surveillance in India. While surveillance systems have expanded considerably over the years, she highlighted persistent gaps in longitudinal tracking, cause-of-death certification, and the documentation of climate-related health impacts. The conversation emphasized that timely, accurate, and granular data is essential for understanding emerging health risks and informing effective policy responses.

Dr. Remco Van de Pas, Policy Research Lead, United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), Malaysia, brought attention to questions of climate justice, arguing that the health impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed across and within countries. He reflected on the role of legal frameworks, local documentation, and community-led evidence generation in strengthening accountability and advancing climate action. The discussion highlighted the importance of building coalitions across health professionals, civil society, and public institutions to make lived realities visible within policy processes.

Drawing attention to tuberculosis and nutrition, Dr. Anurag Bhargava, Professor, Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Mangaluru, challenged participants to think beyond disease-specific approaches and engage more deeply with the social determinants of health. Reflecting on evidence linking undernutrition and TB outcomes, he explored the challenges of translating research into policy action. Ms. Nanoot Mathurapote, Head, Global Collaboration Unit, National Health Commission Office (NHCO), Thailand, further enriched the discussion by bringing regional perspectives on health systems and policy engagement.

A recurring theme throughout the session was that evidence alone does not drive policy change. How evidence is generated, whose experiences are documented, and what issues are prioritized all shape the decisions that ultimately influence health outcomes.