Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Center for Contemporary South Asia

The COVID-19 Crisis in India: A Time to Act

Monday, April 26, 2021

11:00am – 12:00pm EST | 8:30pm – 9:30pm IST

India is currently facing the "World's Worst Outbreak," recording the highest total of new COVID-19 cases in a single day to date (315,909) on Wednesday according to the Hindustan Times. Join Ashish K. Jha, Dean of the School of Public Health and Journalist, Barkha Dutt for a conversation focused on what is happening on the ground in India, what India needs to do, and what the U.S. could do to assist in this emerging humanitarian crisis.

Moderator:
Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia and Sol Goldman Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs

Ashish K. Jha,  M.D., MPH, is the Dean of the Brown School of Public Health. He is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response, as well as on health policy research and practice. He has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and is now on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policy makers. He came to the Brown School of Public Health after leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jha has published more than two hundred original research publications in prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the BMJ, and is a frequent contributor to a range of public media.  

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning TV journalist, anchor and columnist with more than two decades of reporting experience. She is India’s only Emmy-nominated journalist who has won multiple national and international awards, including the Padmashri, which is India’s fourth highest civilian honour. Barkha graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi with a degree in English Literature. She did her Master's in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York.

South Asia Seminar