HSPH-India Health Partnership aims to strengthen public health efforts

A new initiative at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) aims to formalize and build on longstanding ties between the School and India. The new effort — the HSPH-India Health Partnership (HSPH-IHP) — will support and help coordinate the School’s wide range of existing research and educational activities in India, as well as encourage new ventures.

Peter Berman, professor of the practice of global health systems and economics in the Department of Global Health and Population (GHP), is coordinating the new initiative.

HSPH has been involved in research and educational efforts on the Indian subcontinent since the 1950s. Currently, nearly two dozen researchers and faculty members from the School are conducting research, teaching, and working to translate research into practice across the region, in collaboration with a range of local partners.

“The School established a formal China Initiative in 2005 to help coordinate many of our public health efforts in the most populous nation in the world,” said HSPH Dean Julio Frenk in an announcement about the new initiative. “India is the world’s second most populous country — and projected to become the world’s most populous by 2030.