Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies

The Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS) is recognized as a centre of excellence for public health training by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India. The centre continuously doing training and research in different areas of public health. In addition to two years MPH programmes, it also offers both regular and part time PhD programme. On research activities recently there are collaborations with major universities such as the University of Arizona in the United States of America, Melbourne and Monash Universities of Australia, University of Edinburgh in the UK and University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Routine Activities

In addition to the MPH training program at the Achutha Menon Centre, the MPH program is also offered through the National institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, and the Christian Medical College, Vellore.

The research activities were continued in collaboration with several international universities such as the University of Arizona in the USA, Melbourne and Monash Universities in Australia and the University of Edinburgh, UK. There are new research initiatives on health equity and Non Communicable Diseases.

As of today there were 9 PhDs graduated from this centre. And 196 MPH students and 68 DPH students completed their respective programs.

In addition to regular programmes we also offer short term courses in the areas of Public Health. That include, courses such as short course on Ethics in Health Research.

New Initiatives - Research Programs and collaborative programs

One of the major research projects was on building capacity for tobacco cessation in India and Indonesia supported by the Fogarty International Centre of the US National Institutes of Health. The major objective of this project was to develop and implement tobacco cessation modules for undergraduate medical education in India. We developed and implemented 15 modules on tobacco cessation related to different departments of five medical colleges in south India. We also produced 14 clinical videos to support the teaching of tobacco cessation to the medical students. The professionally made videos were uploaded along with teaching modules in a website. Another important project was the community interventions for health project supported by the Oxford Health Alliance UK. This was a pilot project implemented in three countries: cal Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum China, India and Mexico. The interventions were implemented in schools, worksites, health centers and the neighbourhood groups. The first publication using data from all the three sites came out this year. Now, this has lead to implementation of NCD intervention in the state of Kerala. As per the current project there will be NCD interventions in all 14 districts of Kerala.

Controlling hypertension in rural India is another project supported by the global alliance for chronic diseases and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. This project was implemented in three sites in India: Kerala, East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh and Rishy Valley in Andhra Pradesh.

The project titled “Research Initiative on factors influencing women’s reproductive choices” is supported by the Ford Foundation. The project consists of three inter-related activities: Multi-centred prospective research study on factors influencing postpartum reproductive choices in Jharkhand and Kerala. Two-rounds of data collection covering 500 women in each of the two sites have been completed. 2. Small scale study on sexual and reproductive rights and reproductive choices among married and unmarried young women in Kerala. Activity 3. Mapping and critical review of research on sexual and reproductive health and rights in India during 2000-2013.

Keeping the importance of Public Health education a meeting on Public Health Challenges in India was organized during 14 October-16 October 2014. Senior faculty members from All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi, Indian Institute of Public Health New Delhi, Centre for Social Medicine Jawaharlal Nehru University new Delhi, Post Graduate Institute Medical Education and Research Chandigarh, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences Bangalore, National Institute of Epidemiology Chennai and Christian medical College Vellore participated in the meeting.