Hyderabad: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad an apex Institution under Ministry of Rural development GoI, is hosting the three day National Conference on Health Gender and Rural Development : Research Practice and policy in collaboration with Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (IASSH) during 16th to 18th November 2017 at NIRDPR Campus Hyderabad.
The Ms Sujata Rao, Former Secretary Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI, delivered the Keynote address. She has emphasised on the role of social scientists in conducting policy oriented research, which will greatly help, policy makers and programme managers in bridging the existing gap between the policies and the programme implementation. She requested the conference delegates and the experts attending the conference, to contribute to the policy making through their research and insights.
On this occasion Dr WR Reddy, Director General appreciated the efforts of IASSH health in collaborating with NIRDPR. Dr Reddy emphasised the need for evidenced based policy research to understand the social culturaldeterminants for improving the overall quality of life of community members. He also suggested the delegates to come forward and work with NIRDPR in their mission to attain sustananibleRural development in the country by implementing effective programs and schemes for the common populace of the country.
The Prof Siva Raju IASSH President traced the evolution of association for last 15 years and its relevance in the present day context and expressed keen interest to collaborate with NIRDPR for achieving rural development especially in the area of rural health. The Prof TV Shekhar General Secretary IASSH has outlined the three day conference programme and the various themes and sessions. Two memorialslectures are also planned to be delivered by Prof Parasaruman Director Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Dr Amar Jessani expert on public health and bio ethics from Mumbai.
That, On this occasion two books were released. One is authored by Ms Sujatha Rao, titled “Do We Care? India’s Health System published by Oxford University Press and another by Prof K Srinivasan on India’sPopulation Policies and Programmes published by Sage. Nearly 400 delegates from all over India are attending the Conference and nearly 200 scientific papers will be presented during the 3 day Conference.