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Duke to Hold Its First Health Conference in India

Duke will hold its first health conference in India Dec. 13-14.

Duke University will host its first health conference in India on Dec. 13-14 that will focus on innovative approaches to improve health policy and practice, among other topics.

The Duke University Health Conference: Innovation, Policy & Research takes place in New Delhi.

The two-day conference recognizes the growing importance of health policy, financing and innovation in India to meet the health needs of the population in a sustainable way, as well as highlighting Duke University’s deep connections across the Indian health sector through research and partnerships with Indian universities, foundations and nonprofits.

The sessions will connect Duke faculty with key local and global leaders to discuss emerging health priorities in India and highlight innovative approaches to improve health policy and practice. The goal is to facilitate collaborations from the public and private sectors and learn from the groups’ collective expertise in health-related research and innovation.

Speakers and participants include faculty from the Duke School of Medicine, Sanford School for Public Policy, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke Global Health Institute and Margolis Center for Health Policy, Duke Kunshan University and Duke-NUS Medical School.

“India is a dynamic environment for health, having some of the most urgent health needs in the world while also giving rise to promising innovations that could have global impact,” said Krishna Udayakumar, director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center and executive director of Innovations in Healthcare.

“Leveraging Duke University’s deep history of engagement and collaborations in India, the Duke India Health Conference will provide an opportunity to engage with leading thinkers to address critical health issues such as growing rates of non-communicable diseases, preparing innovations for impact, the future of health financing and India’s progress toward health insurance,” Udayakumar said.

In India, RTI International India and IPE Global are partnering with Duke to organize the conference.

The conference will focus on several key themes, including:

  • Health finance and regulation policy
  • Innovative health care services and delivery models
  • Health and the environment

Nachiket Mor, the director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s office in India, will deliver the closing keynote about government-owned and financed health systems in India.

Other highlights include sessions that will cover:

  • influences of air pollution on health, climate and cultural heritage;
  • the multiple challenges facing the growing burden of cervical cancer in India;
  • the status of government health financing in India;
  • innovative health care models that can support high-value health care, as well as the policy and regulatory issues impacting their growth.

“There are a wealth of Duke faculty projects focused on and happening in India,” said Eve Duffy, associate vice provost of global affairs. “We are looking forward to this event as a way of strengthening our partnerships to develop accessible and affordable healthcare, discover new technologies to limit air and water pollution and understand the best ways to innovate across all aspects of health.”