The fact that a substantial proportion of India's 230 million adolescents (23% of the country's population) are enrolled in schools offers an ideal institutional base for youth health promotion interventions.

A workshop on school-based interventions for improved health was well attended by national and international experts on adolescent health issues including researchers and academicians:

• Jawahar Lal Pandey, National Council of Educational Research and Training
• Srikala Bharath, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences
• Richard Cash, Harvard School of Public Health
• David Ross, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• George Patton, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Fiona Stanley, Director, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Australia
• Shireen Jejeebhoy, Population Council
• Doug Kirby, ETR Associates
• Representatives from international organizations like the World Health Organization's Geneva and South East Asia Regional office.

The participants articulated the need to develop an in-country institutional framework, with clear guidelines identifying the sequence and volume of information to be shared with students across school years. The participants also mentioned that adequate attention needs to be paid to the delivery/support mechanisms (for example, teacher training, development of good training materials) to ensure that quality is not compromised.

The workshop deliberations benefited from inputs from Ministries of Education and Health and Family Welfare and programme experiences of Pathfinder International, CEDPA, Sangath and HRIDAY-SHAN. There was a clear mandate on building a network of agencies for generating evidence and developing criteria that enable researchers, programme planners and policy makers to engage not only with best practices but draw important lessons from what did not work. A three-step framework of research for gathering and appraising evidence (for hypothesis generation, validation and scale up) was recommended. A review of national and international evidence within the Indian social, cultural and political context made this workshop unique, enriching and well-suited to address ground realities.

In recognizing that there has been massive under-investment in health research relevant to the needs of low and middle income countries - the imbalance of the '10/90 gap' - the consultation was aimed at mapping and addressing the barriers in the effective use of research (evidence) for improved policies and management decisions.

Editors of leading medical and public health journals, funding agency representatives, policy- makers, researchers, academia and media came together to discuss their roles in facilitating information from research to influence policy. Serving the local and global community in bridging the information and need-to-act gap, while working towards quicker translation of relevant research into policy were goals that were commonly agreed on as precursors to improve the health of populations.

Interesting case studies emphasizing what has worked in terms of effective translation of research into policy were presented. The consultation also focused on the need to unpack what has not worked, so as to provide insight into challenges and solutions. Key points of a plan of action for the PHFI were suggested by the experts through the panel discussions.

The PHFI will prioritize action on media facilitation and specialized courses for journalists, training researchers in media engagement and translating research into policy-maker friendly language, besides focusing on advocacy with scientific publications to strengthen policy forum sections within their journals.

A summary report encapsulating key points of action will enable finalization of a framework for Indian partnerships that would aim at strengthening the trajectory from research to improved policy.

In recent years, policymakers, donors and implementers have been faced with inadequate and limited evidence relating to diet, nutrition and disease. This has constrained the accurate identification of problems and adoption of context relevant means to achieve desired policy and programme objectives. The role of nutrition research is critical in bridging this gap so as to define pathways and specific actions to apply epidemiologic methods to nutrition in terms of methods of data collection, analytical procedures, and interpretation of findings.

The aim was to train about 32 participants in nutrition-related research methodology, including nutritional epidemiology, research study designs and translation of research results into policy recommendations based on critically reviewed evidence.

The faculty, consisting of eminent nutrition scientists from India and overseas included:

• Professor Walter Willett, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, USA (Course Director)
• Dr. GNV Brahmam Deputy Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad
• Prof. U. V. Mani, Head, Nutrition Department, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda
• Prof. Tulsi Patel, Professor in Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi
• Prof. Barry Popkin, Director, University of North Carolina & Director Interdisciplinary Obesity Program, Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition, USA
• Dr. D. Prabhakaran, Additional Professor, Cardiology, All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
• Prof. Hilary Powers, Professor, Human Nutrition Unit, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
• Dr. Prema Ramachandran, Director, Nutrition Foundation of India, Delhi;
• Prof HPS Sachdev, Department of Pediatrics, Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi
• Prof. Jaap Seidell, Professor of Nutrition and Health, Director, Institute of Health Sciences, VU University, Netherlands
• Dr Anupa Siddhu, Director, Lady Irwin College, New Delhi
• Prof C. Yajnik, Director, Diabetes Unit, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Pune
• Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi

To underscore critical research issues and prioritized policy directives that need to be bridged in the area of child nutrition, this Seminar also hosted a Special Round Table on the theme of "The challenges of Child Nutrition: Closing the gaps" chaired by Ms. Suzanne Moorehead - Minister Development and Head DFID India. Other panelists included:

• Prof. V. K. Paul - Dept of Pediatrics & WHO Collaborating Centre for Training & Research in Newborn Care.
• Dr. Shanti Ghosh – Senior Pediatrician
• Dr. Prema Ramachandran - Director, NFI
• Dr. Santosh Mehrotra - Sr. Consultant (RD), Planning Commission
• Dr. A.K. Shiva Kumar - Member National Advisory Council
• Prof. K. Srinath Reddy – President, PHFI

Electronic platforms are in the process of being created for continued exchange of knowledge and interaction among interested public health professionals.