INDRAJIT AICH: Centre For Public Health Research (CPHR) In Eastern India – Introduces ‘DALY Calculator’ To Calculate Adverse Impact of COVID-19 Kolkata, 5th October 2022: Manbhum Ananda Ashram Nityananda Trust (MANT), a renowned nonprofit organization recognized by the Union Government, today introduced a much-committed public health research institution titled Centre For Public Health Research (CPHR) in Eastern India. A seminar on the ‘Importance of Public Health Research & the Role of CPHR’ was arranged for the occasion.
The seminar was attended by several erudite personalities, including noted Health Economist Dr Barun Kanjilal, Dr Denny John, internationally acclaimed Research Methodologist; Mr Pranay Lal, Senior Technical Advisor of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, New Delhi, Ms Papiya Sen, the Executive Director of MANT & Dr Nirmalya Mukherjee, Director, MANT who have been practicing in their respective areas of research with due effectiveness.
Dr Sanjay Kapur, Managing Director, JSI, New Delhi, Dr Krishnamurthy Jyanna, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Life and Allied Health Sciences, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bengaluru; Dr Vinod Pavarala, Professor, UNESCO Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad and Mr. Naseer Atiq, SBC Specialist, Polio RRT, UNICEF – ESARO, Kenya joined the Seminar, virtually.
The Centre for Public Health Research Organization is an independent people’s health research unit which also bears its wings in the Northeastern parts of India. It is a powerful scientific investigation body which mainly promotes public health purpose and aims to bring imperatives changes in society. The concept of this unit was originally conceived by expert officials who are in a deep association with MANT. The vision dominant behind the establishment of this unique association is evidence generation and charting the way forwards. It targets to take into consideration the strength of the effectiveness and the outcome of all their innovative scientific programs and schemes, which they are inventing and implementing from time to time to bring necessary changes.
MANT, for the first time in the country, launched the ‘DALY Calculator’, which portrays the unbiased picture of COVID-19’s adverse impact in the State, Country and across all corners of the world. Researchers across the globe can use the ‘DALY Calculator’, which will calculate the DALY loss due to COVID. 
“The Centre for Public Health Research thrives on enlightening civil society by empowering fellow civilians and shedding light on scientific knowledge. This organization is the brainchild of experienced professionals as well as young and talented scholars. DALY Calculator was invented by CPHR to know the impact of pandemic-influenced catastrophe that we experienced during last 2 years or so”, said Dr Nirmalya Mukherjee, Director, MANT.
The ‘DALY Calculator’ functions on the basis of its own inimitable calculations. It takes into consideration the sum-up result of Years of Life Lost (YLL) and Years Lost Due to Disability (YLD) to reach the ultimate conclusion and inform the mass with the accurate result. The term The Years of Life (YLL) states the occurrence of sudden death caused by a fateful incident, whereas Years Lost Due to Disability (YLD) defines the loss of human lives for the reason of any infection-driven disability. Here, the picture of disability can be further distinguished into the states of being Mild, Moderate and lastly Severe. The sole concern of the seminar was to make the people understand the importance of public health research and to inspire young researchers to be involved in public health studies.
About Centre for Public Health Research (CPHR) MANT has established the Centre for Public Health Research with 5 people with PhDs in different streams (Public Health, Economics, Geography, and Anthropology), 2 Research Associates (Postgraduate in Public Health and Statistics) and 5 Research Assistants (Master’s Degree in Social Work/ Rural Studies). Recently 4 colleagues with doctoral degrees have also been trained in Systematic and Scoping Reviews conducted by JBI, University of Adelaide, Australia. In the recent past, we implemented research programmes with support from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines and the Johns Hopkins University, USA. At present, we have been implementing a study in 9 states of India and a Post Implementation research programme with support from Johns Hopkins University, USA, and 4 studies with support from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris. Another qualitative study to be implemented in 3 states of India to be supported by Johns Hopkins University, USA, is in the pipeline.
About Manbhum Ananda Ashram Nityananda Trust (MANT)
MANT is a non-profit, non-racial, non-political, non-religious organisation that, since 1960, has been working in development, livelihood enhancement, research, and advancing community action for the preservation of local ecology, health and culture along with the promotion of adoption of community media like community radio and video in tribal languages, health service delivery and health behaviour change to reduce the massive health burden in the poor and marginalized sections of society. We primarily work in the Eastern and Northeastern parts of India and have a team of 143 trained workers and 12 volunteers. We have been touching almost 10 lakhs lives, mostly tribal, every year through our different activities.
