Publications

PHRN distance learning programme aims to strengthen technical capacities at district and state levels to support processes that lead to achieving the NRHM’s goals. The course consists of 18 modules (books) of which thirteen books have already been completed and disseminated among the participants.

Each module has six to ten lessons. With project work and contact programmes taken together, the modules act as a tool kit for construction of a district health plan. The following modules have been published and training for the same is continuing.

1. Introduction to Public Health: A brief overview of the goals of the health sector and in the current context – the goals of the National Rural Health Mission includes a brief introduction to the structure of the public health system- and some understanding of the constraints that its different components are facing.
2. Reduction of Maternal Mortality: An understanding of the socio –medical causes of maternal mortality, an assessment of constraints being faced by current schemes for provision of care in pregnancy are facing and a look at best practices that have successfully addressed these bottlenecks.
3. Accelerating Child Survival: An understanding of the common causes of child mortality and the bottlenecks that current strategies are facing. A look at the wealth of best practices from which evidence based strategies for improving child health could be drawn up.
4. Community Participation and Community Health Workers: Understanding these concepts and learning from large scale community health worker programmes to make a success of the ASHA scheme. This module is designed as a tool-kit of everything one needs to know about the ASHA programme.
5. Behaviour Change Communication and Training: How these two essential supportive elements of any public health system can be rendered more effective avoiding the errors and pitfalls of the past.
6. Mainstreaming Women’s Health Concerns (beyond care at pregnancy) are addressed in this module. Also there is an exploration of concepts like gender sensitive health services and gender mainstreaming and an effort to convert a number of desirable concepts into pragmatic steps.
7. Community Participation beyond Community Health Worker Programmes involves learning about tools of community diagnosis, understanding village level planning and the role of panchayats; finding the spaces where community may participate effectively in decision making understand and draw on the strengths of Non Governmental Organisations.
8. National Disease Control Programmes need to be incorporated into a district plan for efficient use of resources and effective implementation and to adapt programmes to meet local specificities. This is discussed with reference to Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV and the National Disease Surveillance programme.
9. Inter-Sectoral Synergy: The district plan needs to incorporate a comprehensive understanding of the social determinants of health especially with reference to food and nutrition. The district needs to plan for a number of sectors to act together to address nutrition and food security issues, safe water and sanitation and school education in an integrated manner.
10. District Health Planning: The skills and tools for situation analysis and programme assessment, the conceptual clarity to frame objectives, choose evidence based strategies and frame appropriate indicators are covered in this module. With this module, reached in the sixth month – the minimum knowledge and skills for district level health planning would be in place.
11. District Health Management looks at the development of managerial capacity. It also includes areas like health infrastructure planning, systems for procurement and logistics, rational use of drugs, health management information systems and quality assurance mechanisms.
12. Engaging with the Private Sector to ensure its contribution towards public health goals, building public private partnerships, assessing health insurance options, and moving towards a stewardship role for the government in interacting with the private sector are addressed in this module.
13. Legal Obligations of District Health System aims to examine the various legal responsibilities that exist at the district level. This book aims to provide enough insight and information to strengthen the legal instrument of ensuring health and health care to all people from the perspective of health as a fundamental and human right.
14. Issues of Governance and Health Sector Reform discusses the perspective frameworks within which different stakeholders operate, the approach to decentralization, and the options available for promoting and managing change considering existing relationships of power.
15. Tribal Health covers issues of health and health services in the tribal context. It looks at initiatives for overall development strategies of tribal areas and lays out the context and challenges that confront activist and administrators who seek to achieve healthcare of all in these marginalized areas.
16. Issues in Urban Health attempts to help health planners, managers and civil society groups to recognize and understand the various issues related to urban health for continued action on urban health as well as to inform upcoming policies and programmes.

Work for the following modules is currently underway:

The programme is also developing optional modules on the following subjects:

• Managing Hospitals in Districts
• Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health
• Disaster and Epidemic Management
  

Dr. Vandana Prasad, the National Convenor of Public Health Resource Network has also co-authored:

• Global Health Watch, 2011 (Dr. Vandana Prasad part of the Editorial team)
• Universal Access to Healthcare: Threats and Opportunities in the Economic and Political Weekly, June 2011 [click to read full commentary] [pdf file 191 KB]
• Tackling Malnutrition for Children Under Six: Evidence from Two Micro Studies, a Mobile Creches publication (Dr. Vandana Prasad – co-author), 2009
• Empowering health personnel for decentralized health planning in India: The Public Health Resource Network Anuska Kalita, Sarover Zaidi, Vandana Prasad and V.R. Raman; Human Resources for Health, 7:57 (20 Jul 2009) [click to read full commentary] [pdf file 193 KB]
• Distress Migration Identity and Entitlements: “A study on migrant construction workers and the health status of their children in the National Capital Region 2007-2008”, a Mobile Crèches Publication on migration workers involved in temporary, seasonal work and involved in frequent movement.
• Action for Young Children: “Study of interventions in Early Childhood Care for Development and Behavioural Changes in an Urban Resettlement Colony”, a Mobile Crèches Publication for which Dr Vandana Prasad was the consultant for the study.
• Strategies for Children Under Six: A framework for the 11th Plan which are recommendations on interventions to the 11th Five Year Plan prepared for the Planning Commission

Reports

"Analysing Strategies for Community Participation in National Rural Health Mission: A Documentation of Action Research in Four States" Report submitted to Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), January 2012

The Health Programme for Homeless Children in Residential Care: A Handbook for Programme Managers (PHRN-CES collaboration - is available at a suggested contribution of Rs. 150. The first few pages of the Handbook are given here. [.pdf 238 kb]

Food Security Of The Homeless In Delhi: A study of the nutritional status and dietary intakes of adult homeless persons in New Delhi: An estimate of one per cent of Delhi’s population constitutes one of the most vulnerable categories of the urban poor – the homeless. The study is situated as an inquiry into the situation of food security of the homeless populations in Delhi, taking into account the alarming situation of hunger deaths of the homeless... [Read More]

Towards Universalisation of Maternity Entitlements: An Exploratory Case Study of the Dr. Muthulakshmi Maternity Assistance Scheme, Tamil Nadu: Maternity entitlements have been long recognized as a labour right, with a significant role to play in the promotion of maternal and child health. However, the absence of implementation mechanisms has left over 90% of working women who are the poorest, uncovered... [Read More]

A Rapid Assessment of Communitization Processes of the National Rural Health Mission in Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar: This report is a consolidation of rapid assessment studies done to assess the status of the community processes in the district initiatives under NRHM in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. These studies were done by the community health fellows over a period of three months in various districts of the above mentioned states under the aegis of community health fellowship programme.[click to read full report] [pdf file 324 KB]

Rapid Assessment of the District Health Profile: This report is a consolidation of many rapid assessments studies done on health profile of districts in the state of Orissa. These studies were done by the community health fellows over a period of three months in various districts of Orissa under the aegis of community health fellowship programme.[click to read full report] [pdf file 242 KB]

Village Health and Sanitation Committee Report: An assessment of the status of VHSCs in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. The report makes extensive use of secondary data collected from November 2007 to February 2008 and Field study from January 2008 to February 2008.[click to read full report] [pdf file 1.68 MB]