37th IAPSMWBCON 2021 (online) (3rd and 4th December 2021)

The 37th Annual conference of the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine, West Bengal Chapter was held on 3rd and 4th December in virtual mode. It was attended by 220 participants mostly from West Bengal but from outside West Bengal too.

The conference was started with the inauguration session. Prof. Suneela Garg (President of IAPSM), Prof. A Kadri (Secretary of IAPSM), Prof. Tutul Chatterjee (President of IAPSM WB Chapter), Prof. Indira Dey (Secretary of IAPSM WB Chapter) and Dr. J C Sardar (Organising Chairperson) delivered their warm greetings and declared the ceremony open. Dr Sandip Ghosh (Principal, R G Kar Medical College) greeted all the participants. This was followed by the Presentation of IAPSM (WB) Grant for Best Research Project (initiated by Prof. Akalanka Bhandari) 2020 by Dr Biswadip Chattopadhyay (Junior Resident, AIIH & PH, Kolkata)

The Award paper Competition IAPSM (WB) Grant for Best Research Project (initiated by Prof. Akalanka Bhandari) 2021 was held after this. The best proposal award from 12 entries was given to Dr Tanushree Karmakar (Junior Resident, Bankura Sammilani Medical College). This was followed by Prof. M M Ganguly Memorial Award for Young Scientists with 10 entries in the preliminary round. Dr Alapan Bandyopadhyay (Junior Resident, Community Medicine, North Bengal Medical College) was adjudged for having the best paper in this competition. In the post lunch session there was Prof. Ranadeb Biswas Memorial Award for Best Poster presentation. The winner was Dr Arpita Das (Junior Resident, AIIH & PH, Kolkata).

Then there was the session named "Stopping the way to a dusty death: It’s now or never” where the eminent speakers for the session were Dr. Kamalesh Sarkar (Director NIOH, ICMR) and Prof. Susmita Kundu (Professor and Head, Respiratory Medicine, R G Kar Medical College). This session focused on Lung Health and the impact of Silicosis. Various modes of prevention of silicosis were highlighted with emphasis on the urgent need for a national silicosis control program.

This was followed by the session titled "Career opportunities for Young Professionals” that was conducted by Dr Archisman Mohapatra (Director, GRID Council) and other eminent professionals excelling in the field of public health. It provided insight including the pros and cons into the various dimensions of public health. From job opportunities to scope for pursuing higher education, everything was focused upon under the same umbrella. Dr Pranab Chatterjee, Dr Ranadip Chowdhury, Dr Mohan Bairwa, Dr Bhavna Seth, Dr Anurima Baidya and Dr Nimrat Kaur were among the young public health leaders who interacted with the audience.

Then there was the session on "Diabetes in Young: A Public Health Challenge” which was on Diabetes in Young which is one of the biggest public health challenges that we are facing today. The speaker of the session was Dr Sujoy Ghosh (Professor, Department of Endocrinology, SSKM Hospital). As sedentary lifestyle is setting in more and more young individuals are prone for Diabetes. He gave a detailed overview of the disease, its types, pathogenesis and clinical features among young population. Along with those how preventive interventions could halt the progression of the disease into overt complications was also emphasized. Dr. Bobby Paul (Associate Professor, Department of PSM, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health) also shared how the burden of Diabetes in young is increasing day by day and why it is of utmost importance to initiate opportunistic screening programs for them.

The last session of the day was "COVID Pandemic: The way forward” where Dr Jean Frederic Levesque (Chief Executive, NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation Sydney, NSW, Australia) and Prof. Kunal Kanti Majumder (Professor, Community Medicine, KPC Medical College) were the speakers of the session. An overview of the impact of COVID-19 was shared along with possibilities of future waves. Pandemic mitigation measures were also discussed.

Day 2 of this academic colloquium began with extensive discussion on “Innovation in Malaria Control” where the speaker was Dr Kaushik Sarkar (Director, Institute of Malaria and Climate Solutions). He discussed about novel technologies to tackle the problem of malaria. The next session unfurled with a very educational presentation on “NTEP: What we can Do” by Dr Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj (NTF Chairman: NTEP) and Dr Quazi Toufique (TB Consultant, CDC) as speakers. They discussed about the recent strategic changes in the fields of NTEP.

This was followed by a very enlightening session on “Innovations in Immunisation” by Dr Reda Sadki (President Geneva Learning Foundation) as speakers.

This was followed by a session on “CBME: Past Present and future” where Prof Dinesh Badyal (Convener, NMC Nodal Centre, CMCL) set the stage with his presentation on the need of CBME. This was followed by interesting presentations by Prof Dipta Kanti Mukhopadhyay (Professor, COM and SDH) and Prof. Aditya Prasad Sarkar (Professor, BSMC).

Then Prof. Indranil Saha gave an expansive lecture on “Faculty Development Program”. Then, there was an exchange of views on “Current Priorities on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD’S) in India” by Dr. Pritam Roy (NTD Coordinator, WHO Country Office, India) and Dr. Raman Velayudhan (Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Disease, WHO Head Quarter, Geneva).

The session and hence the entire IAPSM-WB Chapter concluded with the detailed information on “NFHS-5: Areas of Concern” by Dr. Kaninika Mitra (Consultant, UNICEF) as speaker. She mentioned in detail about the NFHS 5 findings, and the gaps identified.

This was a very interactive, informative, and engaging session of two days with various academic activities helping the budding Public Health Experts and promoting public health as a whole.

The Annual General Body Meeting was held on 5th December 5 pm onwards in virtual mode attended by a large number of members. Prof T Chatterjee, President, chaired the meeting. Prof I Dey, Secretary conducted the meeting. New EC and Editorial Board 2021-22 formed.

Rapporteurs Dr Mukta Mondai, Junior Resident Dr Vineeta Shukla, Junior Resident

Compiled by Dr Rivu Basu

(Organizing Secretary, IAPSMWBCON 2021)