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YSPH Students’ Research Helps Expand Health Care For Undocumented Pregnant Women and Children

In the spring of 2021, Yale School of Public Health students Sreeja Kondeti, M.P.H. ’22, and Thomas Stovall, M.P.H. ’21, were interning in the Connecticut state legislature as part of Assistant Professor Shelley Geballe’s Health Policy Practicum course.

Their research into options for health care for undocumented immigrants helped support the enactment of a law expanding Connecticut’s HUSKY health insurance program to include far more undocumented women and children who met certain criteria. Pr
Yale School of Medicine •

Global Collaborations in Harm Reduction: University of Jordan and Yale

From September 19th – 23rd, 2022, five faculty members from the University of Jordan (UJ) traveled from Jordan to New Haven to meet with Yale students and faculty as part of the Yale-UJ Joint Training Program in Addiction Medicine.


In late 2021, faculty from the Yale Institute for Global Health Global Addictions Network and faculty from The University of Jordan School of Pharmacy received a $158,466 two-year grant from the U.S. Department of State to create a joint addiction training progra
The News International •

The matter of mental health | Political Economy | thenews.com.pk

hen Amina Zia lost her husband to Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic, she descended further into depression.

“It happened so suddenly that even after almost two years, I am unable to accept that he will not be coming back,” says Zia. Her husband, Dr Zia Ullah, 60, had contracted the coronavirus disease and passed away within a month. “When this happened, there was no one I could cry with or get a hug from because everyone was afraid of the virus.”

The pandemic worsened mental health in
Yale School of Medicine •

YSPH faculty, students discuss humanitarian concerns in Ukraine and elsewhere

As the Russian war with Ukraine entered its third week, images of the utter destruction and human despair associated with the invasion have circulated around the globe.

“We are seeing how raw power can cause unspeakable fear and destruction,” said Yale School of Public Health Dean Dr. Sten H. Vermund, the Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health. “But I look at our faculty and students here for hope.”

With that, Vermund, M.D.,Ph.D., marked the beginning of a March 16 faculty panel and stude
Yale School of Medicine •

Dispatches from India: Vaccine Inequity and the Pandemic Rages On

Devina Buckshee is a first-year M.P.H. student at the Yale School of Public Health. She is also a health journalist who has been monitoring the COVID-19 crisis daily from her home in Maharashtra, the second-most populous state in India. What follows is the second installment of Buckshee’s personal reports on the human toll of the coronavirus pandemic from the front lines of the crisis in India. She hopes that sharing firsthand accounts of the situation in India will encourage others to support r
The Quint •

Can the Media Talk about Mental Illness with Dignity?

It’s been one year since Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide. And one year since the frenzied media coverage, trial and arrest of actor Rhea Chakrabarty and the mockery made of people with bipolar disorder, depression and mental health conditions in general. As health reporters primarily covering all things COVID-19, we had to shift gears and dive headfirst into the whole debacle. The question then became not if we talk about suicide enough (we did) but if we spoke about it well
The Quint •

Utter Desperation for Amphotericin B: Mucormycosis Drug Shortages

Dr Abhishek Tandon, a Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Resident at AIIMS Jodhpur explains that no one is really to blame, “it’s an impossible situation.” He says while mucormycosis is a known disease, it was not very prevalent ever- especially not in the numbers we are seeing now.

Currently, the patients range from 20-70-year-olds but are “mostly in the 20-40 age range,” adds Dr Tandon. AIIMS Indore is planning a mucormycosis ward soon too. He explains that no one foresaw it as a com
The Quint •

Watch: Are We Prepared for The Next Surge of COVID-19?

With the ferocious second surge having ravaged parts of India, how do we begin to prepare for the next one? Can pandemic planning happen with opaque data? Do we understand enough about the role variants play?

India is still in the midst of a devastating second wave. A wave that caught us unfortunately unprepared and overconfident. The states have struggled and faltered in their response, some more than others. As the wave goes through rural India, our data has been exposed, variants have been g
The Quint •

Fighting a War Without a War General: Experts on COVID Crisis

At least 100 Indian scientists have petitioned the government through an open letter on 29 April, to demand more access and transparency to ICMR data to help deal with the current COVID crisis. As the second wave lashes on and many Indians are still grappling for basic requirements, scientists have urged the ICMR to open up their data for more collaboration. The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, K. VijayRaghavan acknowledged the problems and added, “Our broad
The Quint •

Watch: Why Language Matters: Guidelines for Reporting on Suicides

The World Health Organisation says one of the 6 ways for suicide prevention is good media reporting

“That is why we get after the media,” says Dr Pathare. “Not to curb any freedom of speech or press but because the way you write has an actual, practical impact on people's lives.”

'Copycat suicides’ or the concept ‘suicide contagion’ is when a suicide or suicidal behaviours within your close peer circle, family or through media reporting can trigger suicide or suicidal behaviours. So exposure t
The Quint •

Safe Abortion Day: I’m Not Guilty Anymore & More Tales of Abortion

Kums was 29 when she had an abortion. Kavita* (name changed) was 31. “Aren’t I supposed to want kids? I like children. I did want children. But I didn’t want to be a mother. Was I allowed to admit that? Probably not.” Another woman, choosing to remain anonymous, said she had an abortion in her last year of college because she was not ready yet. Another said she was raped in her marriage and chose to abort. “I had an abortion but nowhere to talk about it,” was the common refrain. Abortion is a pr
The Quint •

Can We Stop Suicides? Here’s How Rural India Is Paving the Way

1 in 3 suicides that happen in the world, happen in our country. Suicide is thorny, uncomfortable and awkward to talk about, and though it’s slowly seeing the light of conversation, it is not seen as what it is - one of India’s biggest silent killers. According to this Lancet report by Dr Rakhi Dandona on the gender and state differentials for suicide deaths in India, that terrifying statistic means that in 2019 India, 250,000 will kill themselves in one year out of 800,000 people in the world.
The Quint •

Voices From the Darkness: Surviving a Loved One’s Suicide

On Sunday, January 6, Raashi Thakran came home from a jog at 7:30. Her usual time, she came home to her father and brother and chatted with them. Raghav, her 18-year-old younger brother joked around with her - their usual banter- and went off for his daily jog at 8.

At 8:30, the doorbell rang. “The neighbors told us they found a body, it was Raghav’s.”

Then there was Shweta, who ignored three missed calls from her cousin because she was a college student in a lecture. But three seemed odd, so

Queering Known Stories, or Celebrating and Mourning Pride Month

One of the sweetest starts to pride month 2018 was Imaan Sheikh’s Twitter thread re-imagining Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH) as a queer love story ­– easily done by erasing Shah Rukh Khan’s character altogether.

KKHH is an iconic Karan Johar 90’s feel-good movie and has remained one of my personal favourites through babyhood and counting. And despite the known love triangle, seeing Kajol’s Anjali and Rani Mukherjee’s Tina as secret queer crushes was the cutest thing, and it just made so much sense!

A Pop Culture Guide to Being Anti-National

The word du jour in India is ‘nationalism’. It’s everywhere, and if you don’t see it (and abide by its narrow definition) you’re probably anti-national.

The following videos explain the rising phenomenon, and what we can do to protect ourselves in these confusing times when expressing an opinion against the government is akin to treason.

When a country is seen as only its government, any remark against the government is assumed to be an attack on the entire country.

What used to mean a genera

We Need to Hold Museums Accountable For Upholding Colonial Narratives

That scene in Black Panther, when Erik Kilmonger corrects a museum curator when she whitesplains the origins of an African artefact to him and questions how the museum got it in the first place, hits close to home for most people of colour. It’s frustrating for us to see our history misrepresented and tokenised in museums abroad, so it becomes crucial than Indian museums curate thoughtful exhibitions to balance out the Westernised perspectives that we’re so used to.

To stay culturally relevant

On the Demonising of Student Activists

University is where I found my political self. I became aware of systemic oppression and learnt to decolonise my mind. ‘Decolonize and moisturize’ by the feminist comedy troupe Hot Brown Honey became my mantra – more so in the winters. I was proud of being the kind of student who questioned the university’s faults and demanded fairness for all its students. I was a student activist and I revelled in it.

On April 6, 2018, the students of Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) organized a press
Humanitarian Practice Network •

Responses to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel

In the wake of the current crisis unfolding in Gaza and Israel, we invited humanitarian practitioners to share their insights on the situation – below are some of the submissions we received.

We must strive for a two-state solution (Alsadiq Ali)

The peace process in Gaza, Israel and beyond (Jess Templeman)

Humanitarian access is essential and called for under International Humanitarian Law (Shameet Thakkar)

Restraint is needed and a peaceful resolution must be reached (Alexander W. Wesley)
www.storytel.com •

Living With Mental Illness in the Lockdown

World Mental Health Day 2020: The lockdown has been ongong for several months, and it is difficult for everyone. Adjusting to the 'new normal', the isolation and the uncertainty have caused an increase in our anxiety and depressive episodes.

How are people with mental illnesses dealing with this time? For some, like Isha, lockdown has wornsed her anxiety and BDP diagnosis and pushed her to the edge of darkness. But for Maria, the lockdown provided an escape from her unhealthy routines and force

Stigma and Mental Health

This segment looks at the stigma against mental illness, and how it hinders an individual’s ability to receive help from caregivers and clinicians – destroying families, leading to discrimination, and exacerbating symptoms. The lack of awareness and negative media stereotypes often contribute to the problem, becoming a barrier to any conversation around mental health.

The episode features an interaction with Mrinalini Ravi and Devina Buckshee. Mrinalini is the deputy director of the Banyan, a Chennai-based outfit which works with homeless people with mental illness, while Devina is the co-founder of the Mental is Political, a feminist collaborative for mental health, social justice and advocacy.
The Quint •

Voices From the Darkness: Surviving a Loved One’s Suicide

On Sunday, January 6, Raashi Thakran came home from a jog at 7:30. Her usual time, she came home to her father and brother and chatted with them. Raghav, her 18-year-old younger brother joked around with her - their usual banter- and went off for his daily jog at 8.

At 8:30, the doorbell rang. “The neighbors told us they found a body, it was Raghav’s.”

Then there was Shweta, who ignored three missed calls from her cousin because she was a college student in a lecture. But three seemed odd, so