Helping ‘the poorest of the poor’
June 23, 2014 — Anubhav and Arunika Agarwal
share more than a marriage. Both earned MBAs focused on health management in their home country of India. Both worked in India and Afghanistan on health
improvement projects. And both are about to graduate with master of public
health degrees from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
But even as each earns an
MPH in global health, they
have focused coursework in different areas—Anubhav on quantitative methods,
Arunika on health economics—so that their knowledge and skill sets will be
complementary. That strategy has helped them get the most out of their HSPH
educations. “He can tell me what he has learned and I can tell him what I have
learned,” said Arunika. “We have built on our partnership.”
A
house is not a home
Anubhav literally grew up
in a hospital. His father, a critical care physician, ran a private hospital in
Uttar Pradesh, India and the family’s residence was on the top floor. That
unique situation enabled Anubhav to see how well—or poorly—the hospital
functioned. He came to understand that “sometimes it’s the organization and
administration of health services, not medical science, that plays the key role
in improving a health outcome or saving someone’s life.”
He planned to get a degree
in hospital management, then take over administration of the hospital from his
father. But while a student at the Indian Institute of Health Management
Research (IIHMR), he became exposed to new subjects—epidemiology, health
economics, demography, research methods—that sparked his interest in public
health.
Meeting
of minds
Arunika was already an MBA
student at a different school when she met Anubhav. After seeing for herself
some of the management challenges at Anubhav’s father’s hospital, she too
decided to get a degree in health management at IIHMR.
After their 2009 marriage,
they both worked in Afghanistan for several years. Anubhav helped with
management and data analysis for various health improvement projects run by
IIHMR and Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health. Arunika did similar work, first for
an Afghan nongovernmental organization, then for Johns Hopkins’ Afghanistan
Country Office. Seeing public health experts in action, they both came to the same
conclusion: They needed more education to be as effective as possible in
improving population health on a large scale.
“I
couldn’t have asked for more”
Both Anubhav and Arunika
cite the HSPH course “Foundations of Global Health and Population,” taught byDavid
Bloom, as enormously helpful. “It was a comprehensive discussion of
what is happening in global health, everywhere,” said Anubhav. “We used to
digest news items every morning in class and discuss and critically analyze
them in detail. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Also valuable was “Finance
and Delivery of Health in Developing Countries,” taught by Peter
Berman and featuring
guest speakers such as William
Hsiao and Rifat
Atun. “The instructors were so knowledgeable,” said Anubhav. “When
they talked, they didn’t look at their notes or their slides. They spoke from
their minds and from what they have done. As a student, you’re learning what
they’ve learned over decades.”
Lifelong
learning
After graduation, Arunika
will stay in Boston to continue work she began on practicum at HSPH—helping
Bloom on a longitudinal study of aging in India. Anubhav is in Washington,
D.C., consulting with the World Bank at
its headquarters. Both hope to go on to earn doctorates in public health and,
eventually, to return to their home country.
“We’d like to help improve
policies in India so that quality health care reaches the poorest of the poor,”
said Anubhav. Added Arunika, “We have a deep interest in working in other
developing countries as well, such as Afghanistan and countries in Africa.”
Said Anubhav, ‘There is so
much to learn and contribute in public health. I don’t think even a lifetime is
enough.”
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