Browsing by Author "Ajay Chandra"

The need for systemic healthcare policies to systematically eliminate NTDs globally and in India has been stressed for more than two decades. Yet, the present policies and the research on them do not meet the need. We present an ontological framework, a research roadmap, and a policy brief to address the gap. The ontology clearly, concisely, and comprehensively represents the combinations of diseases, the objectives regarding the diseases, the entities to address them, the outcomes sought, and the potential policy instruments to invoke. The paper explicates the state of the-policies and state of the research on policies to eliminate NTDs in India. It highlights the significant gaps in the diseases covered, balance in the objectives, comprehensiveness of policies, portfolio of outcomes, and involvement of entities. Last, it presents a set of systemic policies congruent with the ontology to systematically address the gaps. The recommendations are aligned with the present research, policies, practices, and recommendations in India and of the WHO, UN agencies, and other similar bodies. The approach can be generalized to provide roadmaps for other countries facing a similar challenge and for other diseases of similar complexity. The roadmaps, with continuous feedback and learning, can help navigate the challenge efficiently and effectively.

The mental health effects of the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe have been significant, are ongoing, and will persist for a long time. Mental healthcare systems (MHS) to address these effects have been stressed beyond their limit. They have had to: (a) sense the developments and respond to the changing needs quickly, (b) be agile in obtaining feedback and learning from it in very short cycle times, and (c) immediately integrate their personal local experience, the reported global experience and translate the learning to practice. This intense learning cycle has spawned an enormous corpus of research on MHS during COVID-19 and shifted the paradigm of research. Lessons from the paradigm shift should be embraced and normalized in the roadmap for MHS research post COVID-19. This paper presents an ontology of MHS as a framework to systematically: (a) visualize in structured natural-English the dimensions, elements, and narratives of MHS research, (b) map the emphases and gaps in the research during COVID-19, and (c) develop a roadmap to shift the future research paradigm.