UKHRUL: The Naga Scholars’ Association (NSA) hosted a webinar titled “Evidence for Better Health: Public Health Data and Research in India and the North-East” as part of its Insights Lecture Series, bringing together experts to examine the state of health data and research across the country and the region.
The session featured two speakers, Dr. Raghunath Mandi, Proposal Development Specialist at HelpAge India’s Institute for Longevity and Ageing Research, New Delhi, and Ms. Jasmine Maringmei, Atlantic Fellow at the Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong, and Policy Analyst with the Government of Meghalaya.
Dr. Mandi opened with an overview of India’s public health data ecosystem, walking participants through major national datasets including the National Family Health Survey-Round 6 (NFHS-6), the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), the Health Management Information System (HMIS), the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the Census of India. He pointed to persistent geographical and financial barriers to healthcare access, particularly for older persons, and argued that policymakers need to move past merely tracking awareness of welfare schemes to examining whether people are actually receiving the benefits owed to them. He also called for greater attention to identifying populations who continue to fall through the cracks even as national surveys report overall improvements.
Ms. Maringmei turned the discussion toward the North-East specifically, addressing the region’s health data challenges and opportunities before laying out ideas for translating research into policy. She cautioned that closing India’s health data gaps is not simply a matter of collecting more data, but of ensuring it is disaggregated, locally grounded and sensitive to context. She described the absence of adequate data as itself a policy failure, warning that without it, decision-makers are often left applying evidence drawn from unrelated contexts to the region’s realities. She also flagged the shortage of researchers working in the field as a core constraint on the region’s evidence base.
ALSO READ: Hao Foundation Holds Seminar on Forest and Environment
The session was chaired by Dr. Khaling Ngamphundar, Assistant Finance Secretary of the NSA, who pushed participants to interrogate what data gets collected, from whom, who gets left out, and how findings are ultimately converted into policy. The subsequent question-and-answer segment covered a range of topics, including Indigenous healing practices, the NFHS-6 survey, nutrition, healthcare access and government welfare schemes.
The webinar closed with participants calling for stronger research capacity within the region and for evidence that is rigorous, relevant and responsive to community needs. Dr. Avei Vey, Vice President of the NSA and Assistant Professor at South Asian University, delivered the welcome address and vote of thanks.
