1.Monitoring and evaluation of the Avahan project in India (PI-Tinku Thomas): Impact assessment and cost-effectiveness analyses using enhanced surveillance methods and mathematical modelling of HIV transmission dynamics

Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been recently completed. The Centre hospitalieraffiliéuniversitaire de Québec (CHA) is a major Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grantee for the monitoring & evaluation of the Avahan intervention. St. John’s research institute is a sub-grantee of this project. The goal of CHARME-India II is to assess HIV transmission dynamics and the collective impact of all HIV prevention programming in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (two high prevalence states of India), and enhance relevant analytical capacity within India. Under this project, workshops in advanced statistical techniques have been organized. Some of the statistical analyses carried out under the project have been presented in major international conferences.

2.A prospective study on infant feeding practices and their influence on body composition of infants and mothers in rural and urban India(PI-Tinku Thomas)

The International Atomic Energy Agency funded project aims to examine association between infant feeding practices and body composition using stable isotopes. Inaddition, the study aims to validate breast milk intake assessment.

3. Intergenerational transmission of nutrition in India: applying innovative methods to testing intrauterine mechanism(PI-Tinku Thomas)

This project funded by theHarvard Centre for Population and Developmental Studies, Boston, USA examined the translation of undernutrition across 3 generations

4.Review, Assessment & Planning of Interventions in Districts for Maternal and Child Nutrition(Co PI-Tinku Thomas):: Maternal and Child Nutrition in rural Maharashtra and Rajasthan - Identifying gaps and designing system strengthening interventions (Co-PI)

The problem of anaemia in women and children and stunting in children and adolescents still persists in India. A study was done in one district each in Maharashtra and Rajasthan to identify the gaps and the probable strategies required to address these gaps. Funded by TATA Trust

5. Production and consumption of quality foods in Bihar(PI-Tinku Thomas)

This is an ongoing project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation examining the linkahe between quality food production and consumption among farming household in Bihar, India.

6.Child undernutrition in India: Exploration of nutritional gap based on distal &proximal factors(PI-Tinku Thomas)

This project examines the immediate household and spatial factors associated with child undernutrition in India. This study is funded by DBT BIRAC under Grand Challenges India. This study utilizes data from different longitudinal studies across India.

7. Validation of ShortenedProtocol for Dose to Mother Technique of Breast Milk Intake and Assumptions in Calculation ofBreast Milk Intake(PI-Tinku Thomas)

This study funded by the IAEA Vienna examines the various assumptions in the calculation of breast milk intake using dose to mother isotopic technique and validates the new shortened protocol for human milk intake calculations.

8. Household air pollution and health: A multi-country LPG intervention trial (Co-I: Santu Ghosh)under the mentorship of Emory University USA with financial support from the National Institutes of Health, USA from 2016-2021(Co-investigator of Chennai site, Sri Ramachandra University,Chennai,India)

The aims of the projects are (i)Using an intent-to-treat analysis, determine the effect of a randomized LPG stove and fuel intervention on health in four diverse LMIC populations using a common protocol(ii)Determine the exposure-response curves for HAP and health (ii) Determine relationships between LPG intervention and biomarkers of exposure/health effects.