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IHTM alumni Ashish Giri working in Indian communities

Ashish Giri (IHTM 2022)

Global Health Solidarity Network Research Manager – Indian Subcontinent

Background
Ashish grew up in the Himalayas and studied occupational therapy at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, followed by a Master’s in Health Administration at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Prior to IHTM, he worked with the Piramal Foundation and was involved in strategising the Tribal Health Collaborative which is a multi-stakeholder engagement of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, The Piramal Swasthya, BMGF and the USAID that aims to end all preventable deaths among the 104 million indigenous community in India. As a program manager he worked with the NGOs and CSOs across the 177 tribal districts.
Following IHTM, Ashish continued his passion for health equity when he joined the Global Health Solidarity Network. As the Research Manager - Indian Subcontinent, he is responsible for the Himalayan and Indigenous conceptualisations of solidarity, working with communities, grassroots organisations and other key stakeholders to consolidate this conceptualisation. Ashish’s work will ensure that the voices of these marginalised populations will be represented in the actionable tools that the Global Health Solidarity Network will produce to better operationalise solidarity in Global Health.

Why IHTM?
Ashish’s work experience led him to appreciate that health solutions need to be contextualised and that blanket solutions, often implemented at a national level, do not work for all populations. He wanted to learn more about different approaches to complex health problems particularly in limited resource contexts. IHTM appealed to Ashish because of its focus on the global south, equity, and the emphasis on using evidence-based health solutions.

Impact
Many aspects of IHTM have influenced Ashish and his work post the MSc, not least the rich cohort of students from different countries sharing their experiences of dealing with health problems in their home contexts. Developing leadership skills through working together, debating, media training, and writing policy briefs to present in the UK Parliament have proved invaluable in leading projects. Also the focus on understanding intersectionality and its role in health, - learning not to think in silos but to consider the multiple aspects that impact health.
Ashish’s IHTM research placement was in Vietnam looking at just transitioning for AMR. It involved collaboration between 20 researchers from different disciplines and it taught Ashish the importance of understanding and using a range of knowledge and experience to approach a problem. He also learnt how to adjust to a new work culture, to combine the interests of various partners and stakeholders and the importance of community engagement.
Ashish also speaks of learning what it really means to engage ethically and respectfully as a result of IHTM’s focus on ethics and governance.
IHTM has also changed the way that Ashish views indigenous knowledge and culture. Growing up, it was sometimes considered that the community traditions were primitive and Western methods were progressive and scientific. However, IHTM teaches students to be critical and acknowledge that there is no single correct solution to a problem and that traditional knowledge and wisdom are integral in improving the health of a community.
In his current work, Ashish reflects on how, despite coming from a non-academic background, the MSc equipped him with the skills and confidence needed to excel in proposal development, academic research writing, and effectively engaging with government policy.

The last word
“When I sat in class in India, my focus was on capturing everything a professor was saying in order to get the most out of the teaching. But, IHTM taught me to question, whether it’s professors, data, or policies - always to question rather than just to learn.”