Our COVID-19 Response

Faculty Projects

During the second year of the pandemic, South Asia has continued to be hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mittal Institute’s community of experts continues to play an active role in the response to the ongoing crisis, contributing research, oped writing and events to inform the situation.

The Lancet Citizens’ Commission (LCC)

The Commission, which was launched in December 2020, is an ambitious, cross-sector endeavor to lay out a citizens’ roadmap to achieving universal health coverage for the people of India. Through its website, events, and articles, the LCC has become a health information hub around key healthcare questions and needs, including COVID-19. Select Writings from the LCC COVID-19 pandemic & children: Focus on mental health By Vikram Patel in Down to Earth

“Two years on, it is explicitly clear that young people are the worst hit as far as mental health is concerned. In every survey published so far, younger groups have reported the worst mental health, particularly mood and anxiety symptoms.”

Covid-19: What Kind of Peace Accord Can We Negotiate With Virus and Variants This Year? By K Srinath Reddy, LCC Commissioner, for News18

“...we must improve our capacity for genomic surveillance to detect and evaluate new variants. Our health systems must benefit from the lessons of the past waves by strengthening the capacity for providing assured, timely and competent care at all levels, but especially so in primary care settings.”

Community Science Alliance (CSA)

Launched in 2021 by Professors Satchit Balsari, this collaborative effort aims to counter misinformation with sci-

Events and Seminars

JUNE-JULY 2021 COVID-19 IN SOUTH ASIA – PRACTITIONER’S WORKSHOP SERIES Starting in June of 2021, the Mittal Institute, with the support of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Lancet Citizens’ Commission, organized a series of panel discussions by leading scientists and frontline clinicians on the latest evidence-based updates for COVID-19 care. The goal through these talks was to assist with the management of COVID-19 and improvement of health outcomes in South Asia. The three-part series focused on: PART 1: OXYGENATION AND VENTILATION: AT HOME AND IN THE HOSPITAL This session shared the latest updates on protocols for oxygenation and ventilation in COVID-19 patients, contextualized for resource-limited and rural environments.

ence-based guidelines for COVID-19 treatment. The project unites community-based organizations, frontline clinicians and leading scientists from India and the Indian diaspora in developing and providing a suite of clinical resources for use in rural and urban settings–all vetted for scientific accuracy. The group has also been publishing articles widely in public newspapers across South Asia as part of an information campaign to advance appropriate, evidence-based solutions to COVID-19.

Select Writings from the CSA Creating a Lasting Legacy of Collaboration Across South Asia This oped by Mushfiq Mobarak, Maha Rehman and Satchit Balsari appeared in numerous dailies across Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The article speaks to the commonality of societal structures across the region and the need for trans-border knowledge exchange to combat COVID-19 in the region. “Effective mask promotion requires visits to thousands of remote villages, and those same visits can be used to prepare for more

PART 2: HIGH VALUE THERAPEUTICS This session discussed the arguments for using high-value therapeutics for COVID-19 patients, including the latest evidence-based reasoning for their use. PART 3: TESTS AND VACCINES This session examined various vaccines, looking at how they work and their efficacy. Additionally, panelists detailed the types of tests that were available in South Asia and the role of vaccines and testing.

Faculty Projects

effective community-based healthcare responses. To that end, a host of physicians, scientists and community-based organizations created the Swasth Community Science Alliance, committing to pragmatic, science-based protocols to manage mild and moderate cases of COVID-19 in rural India, where institutional health care access is limited.”

Contextualizing Evidence-based Recommendations for the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India Co-authored by Satchit Balsari in The Lancet

“For nearly a year, patients were being advised institutional isolation, regardless of disease severity or ability to isolate at home. For patients with mild disease, home-based care and self-monitoring with a pulse oximeter— as has long been appropriate—has finally gained widespread traction, from sheer necessity. Clear directives (and telemedicine support, where possible) will prevent unwarranted presentations to the hospital.”

COVID-19 Educational Videos by Harvard Medical School Team

In October 2021, the Mittal Institute’s Delhi office hosted Prof. Ajay Singh, Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Medical School (HMS), to speak about COVID-19. Singh conducted a live chat at the office with professors from Indian medical institutions and government officials to showcase a series of COVID-19 educational videos developed at HMS for dissemination to the public. Singh also met with India’s Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, to discuss ways in which Harvard faculty and doctors in India could potentially collaborate. The video series was showcased on the MyGov platform, a platform that connects citizens in India to the government. The series focused on topics ranging from the management of patients isolating at home to the line of treatment for varying degrees of the disease.

Events and Seminars

AUGUST 2021 AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON WHETHER THERE WILL BE A THIRD WAVE OF COVID-19 IN INDIA? Divya Rajagopal (Moderator) William P. Hanage; Chandrakant Lahariya NOVEMBER 2021 VACCINATING INDIA AGAINST COVID: LESSONS FROM HISTORY Prerna Singh (Moderator) Harish Naraindas JANUARY 2022 THE THIRD WAVE: THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON INDIA AND THE WAY FORWARD Vidya Krishnan (Moderator) Gagandeep Kang; Prabhat Jha; Vijay Chandru; Zarir Udwadia