Non USAID Research Projects

NATCON-IASO 2003 Report

The National Conference of the Indian Association of Surgical Oncology was held at Taj Residency, Lucknow from September 19-21, 2003. The Conference was hosted by the Department of Surgical Oncology, King George's Medical College, Lucknow. NATCON-IASO 2003 was a landmark celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the Indian Association of Surgical Oncology. A very distinguished faculty from India and abroad constituted the star attraction of the conference, which was held in the perfect ambience of one of Lucknow's most beautiful five star hotels. The international faculty included visitors from the United States of America - Dr. Manjeet Singh Bains, Dr. Bhuvanesh Singh, Dr. Naiyer Rizvi (all from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York), Dr. Donald Weaver (Wayne State University, Detroit); Japan - Dr. T. Takahashi (Chiba), Dr. M Maruyama (Tokyo); U.K. - Dr. Irving Benjamin (King's College, London), Dr. Shailesh Chaturvedi (Aberdeen, Scotland), Dr. Raghu Ram Pillarisetti (London); Australia - Dr. David L. Morris (University of New South Wales, Sydney). In an unprecedented gesture of international cooperation and goodwill the British Association of Surgical Oncology - The Association for Cancer Surgery (BASO-ACS) joined hands with the IASO during the conference. The executive of BASO including President Mr. R. David Rosin, Vice President Mr. Graeme J. Poston, Hon. Secretary Mr. Andrew Baildam, and Hon. Treasurer Mr. Tom G. Holme along with several trainees actively participated in the conference.

H.E. Sri Vishnu Kant Shastri, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, formally inaugurated the conference on the evening of 19th September 2003. The 3 days of the conference were jam packed with Orations, Guest Lectures, Symposia, Video Sessions, Onco-Quiz, Competition Free Papers, Oral and Poster Presentations. Some of the important orations delivered were the Smt. Radha Devi Oration ('Progress and Experience of Surgery for Esophageal Carcinoma' - Prof. R.I. Dave), Motibhai Oration ('Management of Carcinoma Rectum- what's new?' - Dr. A.P. Majumdar), Dr. N.C. Misra Oration ('Nerve sparing surgery for cancer rectum' - Dr. T. Takahashi), Dr. P.C. Dubey Memorial Lecture ('Cystic Neoplasms of Pancreas - Dr. Donald Weaver), Lucknow Visiting Professor Guest Lecture ('Management of chest wall tumours' - Dr. M.S. Bains). There were 3 important symposia during the conference on - Gastric Cancer (Video Symposium), Thyroid Cancer and Soft Tissue Sarcomas. A panel discussion on Gall Bladder Cancer invited enthusiastic participation from the audience. The video sessions on Laparoscopic Gastrectomy, Laparoscopic Distal Pancreatectomy, Laparoscopic APR and total pelvic exenteration were greatly appreciated.

IndiaCLEN CDC-Collaboration

As part of the IndiaCLEN -CDC Collaboration under the Global AIDS Programme (GAP) for India, a series of task orders have now been completed and a few are in the pipeline. This particular collaboration has as its broad objectives the strengthening of care and support services for HIV positive persons and in pursuit of this goal specific activities have been undertaken at the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine (GHTM) at Tambaram in Chennai. The first involved the development of a data dictionary for the hospital, the second concerned development of an epidemiological data analysis system and provision of consultancy to the hospital in the management and analysis of data. The third was a project that looked at issues surrounding access to care for HIV positive persons from both the patient and provider angle, the data for which is being analysed. Future activities include, a baseline training needs assessment for clinical care which aims at strengthening physical and human resources at GHTM in Phase I and at strengthening the capacity of health care providers in outlying clinical health facilities to serve HIV + persons in Phase II. Also in the pipeline are training for data entry operators working under the state AIDS commissions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on the use of the Epi-Info statistical software and another on understanding issues surrounding stigma and discrimination faced by HIV + persons with a view to developing an effective response strategy.

These task orders, apart from providing vital information that will - in the long run - assist in enhancing care and support services for HIV+ persons and their families, have also helped to build partnerships both with NGOs working in the community as well as with the Government agencies and institutions. By thus working together we hope to strengthen our ability to deal more effectively with this disease thereby improving the quality of life of HIV+ persons and their families.

The International Depression Project (IDP)

According to the 1996 global burden of disease report, depression was the fourth most important health problem in the developing world in 1990 and will be the most important health problem in 2020. The recently released WHO World Health report 2001 confirmed this message and emphasized that the most efficient means of addressing this problem is to focus on the provision of mental health services in primary care. With the goal of converting these ideas into national policies and programs, a consortium of mental health professionals developed the International Depression Project. The International Depression Study ongoing in China, Colombia, and India aimed at developing a methodology for applying the World Psychiatric Association's training material for depression in developing countries. The study was funded by the World Psychiatric Associatiomn (WPA) and INCLEN.

The objectives were to develop structured, center-specific methods of applying the WPA training materials for depression for urban primary care centers in developing countries and assess the effect of the intervention. Finally, the project proposes to develop a manual (or workbook) on the process of undertaking a structured clinic-based intervention to effectively utilize educational materials about psychological problems for primary care. The study has been underway in 3 centres namely, Beijing, Bogota and Chennai.

In Chennai the study was conducted in the Health Dispensaries of the Corporation of Chennai. Data collection has been completed and we are now in the process of analyzing and interpreting the data. In carrying out this project we have had to work closely with the health authorities in Chennai Corporation. Through their support we were able to conduct intensive training sessions for the medical officers manning these clinics on the recognition and management of depression. In addition posters and educational material were made available in the clinics as a means of sensitizing both the health care providers and the patients on depression. A few basic anti depressant drugs were also made accessible to the medical officers. Our focus now is on negotiating with the Corporation Health Officer and the Joint Commissioner Health to make these drugs available in these dispensaries. A small meeting to present and discuss the implications of the study findings will be held in early September 2004.