Sonipat, April 9 : The Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development, in collaboration with the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling, and the Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, hosted a day-long celebration to mark World Health Day 2025 at O. P. Jindal Global University.

The event, themed 'Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures', brought together a wide range of scholars, global health experts, policymakers, and students.

Participants included experts from Harvard University (US), University of Southampton (UK), BRAC University (Bangladesh), and UNSW Sydney, state government of Haryana, along with UNICEF, PATH, PHFI, alongside faculty members from JGU.

Prof. Sabu Padmadas and Prof. Vikram Patel delivered distinguished lectures and other participants engaged in panel discussions, poster making and presentations.

The day commenced with a welcome address by the Deans of the organising schools.

Dean Stephen P Marks outlined the key goals of World Health Day, including access to healthcare during pregnancy, reducing discrepancies in maternity and neonatal health, education and training, community engagement and policy commitment.

Dean Kathleen Modrowski stressed the value of universities working together with the community in a dignified and respectful collaboration for better maternal and child health, citing the example of students' efforts in Kundli area of Sonipat, where they learn from the community, while giving back to society.

Dean R. Sudarshan related his career in the United Nations to lessons in subsidiarity and experience with successful implementation of policy when those who implement are involved in the conceptualization.

Dean Derick Lindquist discussed the relationship between physical and mental health and the wide range of mental health issues facing women across the life cycle, and the value of life skills training.

JGU's Founding Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar welcomed the event on behalf of the university and explained the evolution of the degree programmes offered by JSPH, including the launch of a new online MSc in Global Health and Human Development and replacing the two-year residential Master of Public Health (MPH) with a one-year residential MPH programme pursuant to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

He shared his ideas on policy making in public health through bridging the gap between theory and practice, making aggressive efforts to address society's problems and the challenge of interacting with state-level governments.

Prof. Sabu Padmadas, Professor of Demography and Global Health from the University of Southampton, delivered a distinguished lecture on 'Sustainability at Risk: The Looming Energy Crisis and Global Health', outlining the challenge of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy) and the projections of world population growth and the negative impact of inequitable access to energy and energy poverty towards maternal and child health.

He noted the particular challenge of AI and the extreme demand for electricity and water and other challenges from anthropogenic factors, including death due to air pollution and sea level rise.

The concluding distinguished lecture was delivered by Prof. Vikram Patel, Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Professor in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Spoke on transforming mental health systems in India, drawing on survey data on mental health conditions, barriers to care and paradigm shifts in mental health care, from biomedical approached to a wider range of interventions and highly trained professionals to community level workforce, drawing on examples from the pioneering work of Sangath in India and the implementation of EMPOWER project. He concluded making the case for community-based mental healthcare using psychosocial interventions, engaging frontline workers in global mental health care.

/IANS