Urban health, with special focus on the health of vulnerable populations, has been underserved in the recent years. People living on the streets and slum dwellers are at the worst risk of contracting infectious diseases and are increasingly prone to non-communicable diseases owing to changing lifestyles.  Vijaywada has 111 slums with 26% of the total population residing in slums, on streets and in other underprivileged settlements in the city. The city has a population of 1.5 million people and is ranked third in the world on population per sq. km., following Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Hyderabad (Pakistan). The total unmet need for family planning is below national average that is 6.1%. One of the major challenges faced by the people living in these slums is poor living conditions. Around 20 slums in Vijayawada are situated on river bends and canals, making these areas very hazardous in terms of sanitation, accessibility to potable water and general living conditions. These slums are densel

Around 150 million people are affected with mental disorders in India. Depression, Anxiety, stress and associated risk of suicide are some of the most common mental disorders. Earlier research has shown that India has high suicide rates with Andhra Pradesh having one of the highest suicide rates in the country at around 37.5/100,000 people. The gaps in seeking adequate healthcare for common mental disorders, which included depression, stress and elevated suicide risk, is around 75-80% in resource-limited settings such as India, as compared to 40-50% in developed countries. There are multiple reasons for this treatment gap, some of which include stigma, lack of trained mental health professionals, limited awareness about mental health etc. These problems are more severe in rural areas. Training mental health professionals in sufficient numbers in these settings are, simply not pragmatic. Hence, it is the need of the hour to develop innovative strategies to increase access to a basic standard of

India is suffering from a double-burden of diet-related ill health. This is due to the joint effects of nutritional deficiencies and the over-supply of adverse dietary components such as harmful fats, salt, added sugars and energy. There has been a significant national effort to address micronutrient deficiency disorders in India with strong evidence of success - since 1990 it is estimated that the burden attributable to these conditions has fallen by almost two thirds although millions continue to be affected every year.  Health problems caused by excess consumption of adverse dietary components has over the same time risen by about 80%. An integrated program that addresses both the under- and over-supply of dietary components is now required to address these issues in parallel. The consequences of malnutrition caused by under-consumption of essential foods in India have fallen over the last decade - stunting among children has declined from 48% to 38% and underweight from 43% to 36% though o

Snakebite is a neglected tropical disease, affecting 2.7 million people developing clinical illness after snakebite (envenoming) and leading to 125,000 deaths annually. However, there is a broad consensus, that these numbers are underestimates, as many victims do not attend health facilities. Apart from deaths, snakebite envenomation also causes long-term health effects, and have a high social and economic impact in affected rural communities. Recognising the public health impact of snakebite on vulnerable communities the World Health Organisation (WHO) has in 2017 added snakebite to the list of neglected tropical diseases, the only non-communicable disease to be so. About 46,000 deaths from snakebite, occur in India every annually. However, the actions taken are not commensurate to the burden and impact of the disease. The project seeks to examine policies and systems responses to address the burden of snakebite in India. We intend for our findings to contribute to growing efforts in I

The project aims to identify gaps and opportunities in existing transport systems by examining existing policies followed by qualitative interviews with key stakeholders Background: Transportation equity seeks fairness in mobility and accessibility across class, gender and for differently abled people. It enables access to social and economic opportunity through the provision of equal levels of access for all people to all places. As a pressing issue facing transportation policymakers today, the question of transportation equity is also one of the most complicated. Access to reliable and affordable transportation is essential to addressing poverty, unemployment, obesity, and a variety of other social ills. New mobility technologies make change and disruption of the transportation network inevitable, and are an opportunity to build equitable and sustainable transport systems. Policies and interventions need to be designed and implemented with an ‘‘equity lens’’ to ensure that benefits reac