The Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at the Central University of Kerala organised an International Conference on ‘Health Systems Strengthening: Learnings from the Past and Way Forward’ in collaboration with Mahidol University, Thailand. The two-day conference brought together a diverse group of experts from across India. The program was inaugurated by Prof. Vincent Mathew, Vice Chancellor (i/c) of the Central University of Kerala. Prof. Mathew George, Head of the Department, delivered the welcome address. Maj Gen (Prof) Atul Kotwal, Executive Director of the National Health System Resource Centre, New Delhi and Prof. Supa Pengpid, Deputy Dean for Research Strategy and Network Development at Mahidol University, Thailand, delivered the keynote addresses. 

Eminent speakers including Dr. T. Sundararaman (Former Dean, Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Prof. Cherian Varghese (Manipal University), Dr. G. Jerard M. Selvam (National Health Mission, Tamil Nadu), Dr. Prameela Baral (Directorate of Health Services, Odisha), Dr. Abhay Shukla (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), Prof. Jawahar S.K. Pillai (AIIMS, Bhubaneswar), Dr. Madhavi Bhargava (Yenepoya University), Ms. Gracy Mathai (Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode), Dr. Parag Bhamare (Jhpiego), Prof. Dr. Indranil Mukhopadhyay (OP Jindal Global University, Haryana), Prof. Karl Peltzer (Mahidol University), Prof. Ravi Prasad Varma (Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram), Dr. Jithesh V (State Health System Resource Centre, Kerala), Dr. Vikash R. Keshri (State Health System Resource Centre, Chhattisgarh), Dr. Santhosh B (District Surveillance Officer), Dr. Joseph Francis Munjattu (Karnataka Health Promotion Trust), Mr. Prem Anand (Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation), Dr. Sneha Nikam (Wadhwani AI), and Dr. Sabu K.U (MS Swaminathan Research Foundation) provided their valuable insights on various topics. Prof. V. Ramankutty, Director (Research) at Amala Cancer Research Centre, delivered the valedictory address. Dr. Praveen Balabaskaran Nina from the Central University of Kerala proposed the vote of Thanks.