The public health employment landscape is evolving due to technological advancements and complex global challenges. This study analyses employment trends, essential competencies and the role of emerging technologies through responses from 211 stakeholders, including professionals, employers and academic faculty. Findings highlight a growing demand for multidisciplinary skills, such as project management, data analysis, advocacy and proficiency, in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), geographic information systems (GIS) and telemedicine. Emerging tools, such as blockchain, big data analytics and mHealth, are reshaping workforce needs. Despite the expanding scope of public health careers, significant gaps remain in curricula, particularly in practical and tech-oriented training. To address these, there is a need for competency-based education and experiential learning to prepare graduates for real-world demands. Building an adaptable workforce equipped with updated training and a solid competency framework is essential for the sector’s future success. The integration of modern technologies and crossdisciplinary skills is key to meeting public health challenges effectively.
Equity in health research is more than an ideal; it is essential to ensure that research addresses real-world needs. In India, however, deep and long-standing disparities affect how research is shaped: who is studied, who gets to lead, and which health concerns are prioritised. These exclusions are rarely captured through conventional academic research alone. To address this gap, a narrative approach was adopted, allowing for the inclusion of grey literature and underdocumented sources essential for examining structural research inequities that are often underrepresented in academic databases. Drawing from a real-world case of a measles outbreak in Mumbai’s Govandi slum, the review highlights the dangers of research neglect in marginalised communities. It also examines the challenges faced by researchers from underserved regions, institutions, and communities who often lack access to funding, infrastructure, and leadership opportunities. These dual exclusions of participants and researchers stem from structural biases that influence which communities are studied and whose voices are heard. The review is grounded in an equity-informed perspective and draws on purposively selected academic, institutional, and grey literature published between 2000 and 2025. Sources were identified through targeted searches and selected based on their relevance to health research disparities, representational gaps, and policy implications in the Indian context.The review concludes with actionable solutions to democratise research, including decentralised funding, equity-sensitive ethics review, inclusive research leadership, and a national equity-monitoring framework. To serve all populations, Indian health research must not only expand its evidence base, but also diversify the experiences and expertise it includes.
The Strategic Workshop on "Workers' Safety and Health in a Changing Climate," convened by the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (AIIHPH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH), was held in October 2025 at Kolkata. The Strategic Workshop on "Workers' Safety and Health in a Changing Climate" aimed to foster multisectoral dialog and collaboration to address the growing impact of climate change on occupational health, safety, and productivity, thereby contributing to sustainable development. Convened under the leadership of AIIHPH, NCDC, and NPCCHH, the 2-day workshop brought together senior policymakers, researchers, academicians, and industry leaders from diverse sectors. Discussions were structured around five major, interconnected themes: 1) Protecting Workers from Extreme Weather Events (Heat), 2) Occupational and Environmental Air Pollution, 3) Chemical Exposures in a Changing Climate, 4) Technology for Climate-Resilient Workplaces, and 5) Psychosocial Well-being of Workers. Key recommendations from the deliberations were consolidated after discussions into actionable points, emphasizing the need for an integrated, technology-enabled, and equity-focused approach. Actionable steps included integrating health surveillance with climate data (e.g., WBGT/IMD forecasts), developing a National Chemical Exposure Surveillance Network, adopting AI/IoT-based predictive safety tools, and institutionalizing psychosocial care. The workshop reaffirmed a commitment to the vision of "Health for All, Safe Work for All," urging interministerial convergence (Health, Labor, Environment) and supportive partnerships-especially with Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)-to ensure a climate-resilient workforce.
Oral, breast, and cervical cancer collectively constitute nearly one-third of new cancer cases in India, yet screening uptake remains critically low. Barriers operate across individual, sociocultural, socioeconomic, and health system levels. Yet, limited concrete systematic evidence exists on barriers to screening for oral, breast, and cervical cancers from both community and healthcare worker perspectives within the Indian context. A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines (PROSPERO Registration: CRD420261402558). The literature search covered studies published from January 2010 to May 2026 (coverage period). Database searches were executed between 15 April 2026 and 15 May 2026 (search execution period) across PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library. The Population, Concept, Context (PCC) framework guided eligibility: adults aged ≥ 18 years and healthcare workers in India; barriers, facilitators, and factors affecting screening uptake or delivery of oral, breast, and cervical cancer screening across any Indian setting. Records were screened using Rayyan and quality assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) 2018. Thematic synthesis was conducted, with community findings mapped to the Social Determinants of Health framework and healthcare worker findings mapped to the WHO Health System Building Blocks framework. Forty-one primary studies conducted across diverse regions of India were included, encompassing rural, urban, tribal, and mixed settings. From the community perspective, dominant barriers included fear of diagnosis, low perceived susceptibility, knowledge gaps, stigma surrounding breast and gynaecological examinations, male gatekeeping of healthcare decisions, financial and indirect cost burdens, distrust of public health facilities, and structural access constraints. From the healthcare workers’ perspective, critical barriers included knowledge and skill deficits among frontline workers, excessive workload, inadequate training, weak referral systems, supply chain failures, poor health information systems, and fragmented governance. Facilitators included structured training programmes, ASHA-led outreach, free-of-cost screening services, community-based screening delivery, and coordinated multi-sectoral governance. The Sikkim HPV self-sampling study further highlighted the acceptability and feasibility of community-based implementation within its study setting. Cancer screening gaps in India reflect systemic failures operating simultaneously on the demand and supply sides. Addressing them requires integrated strategies targeting workforce capacity, governance coordination, indirect cost reduction, continuity of care after a positive screen, and culturally sensitive community engagement. Evidence-based, context-specific interventions are urgently needed to strengthen India’s National Cancer Screening Programme-National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD). PROSPERO ID: CRD420261402558.
The prevalence of multimorbidity is projected to increase substantially in India. Previous studies have focused on urban populations and older adults, who do not represent the majority of those at risk. We aimed to estimate the prevalence and investigate patterns of multimorbidity in a rural population in India and examine their associations with four common behavioural risk factors (BRFs): daily drinking, tobacco consumption, physical inactivity, and poor sleep. This cross-sectional analysis used data of all adult participants (aged ≥18 years, mean age of 35.5 years) from the third follow-up of Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study (APCAPS), 2010-12. We used binary logistic regression to examine the associations between BRFs, ascertained through validated questionnaires, and the prevalence of multimorbidity, defined as having two or more of 13 common chronic conditions. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to investigate common patterns of multimorbidity, followed by multinomial logistic regression to examine their associations with BRFs (categorised as binary), adjusted for age, sex, and household socioeconomic status. Of 5332 adult participants (mean age 35.5 years, standard deviation 13.8 years) included in the analysis, 14.2% had multimorbidity, the prevalence of which increased steeply with age. Current tobacco consumption (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.23 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.50]), physical inactivity (aOR: 1.66 [95% CI: 1.38-1.99]), and poor sleep (aOR: 1.86 [95% CI: 1.35-2.57]) were associated with higher odds of having multimorbidity. We found one multimorbidity pattern of "anaemia and hypertension" (n = 220, 4.1%). Physical inactivity (aOR: 2.07 [95% CI: 1.52-2.82]) was associated with higher odds of having this multimorbidity pattern, with no associations found for the other BRFs. The BRFs identified, notably physical activity, could present important opportunities for intervention to reduce the burden of multimorbidity in India. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these relationships.
