Mohan Babu University Hosts ICSSR-Sponsored National Conference on AYUSH and Community Medicine Integration

Mohan Babu University (MBU) convened the two-day National Conference on Integrating AYUSH with Community Medicine (IACMI-2026), creating an interdisciplinary platform to evaluate how India’s indigenous systems of medicine can fortify the country’s public health architecture. Sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and hosted by the Mohan Babu School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the academic gathering centered around the thematic blueprint: “A Framework for Holistic and Sustainable Public Health in India.”

The summit brought together clinicians, public health researchers, pharmaceutical scientists, and policy experts to address the fragmentation between conventional allopathic community care and traditional AYUSH modalities (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy). Deliberations prioritized preventive, promotive, and primary healthcare delivery frameworks designed to lower the chronic disease burden across diverse demographic segments.

Strategic Focus Areas and Public Health Priorities

Technical sessions across the two-day schedule addressed key national health challenges:

Chronic Disease and Life-Course Care: Strategies for applying evidence-based AYUSH practices alongside standard protocols to manage non-communicable diseases (NCDs), enhance geriatric care and healthy aging, and address adolescent and maternal-child health indicators.
Mental Well-being: Leveraging integrative therapies, lifestyle interventions, and traditional mind-body techniques within primary healthcare centers to improve accessible mental healthcare.
Digital Infrastructure & Tele-AYUSH: Evaluating rural outreach mechanisms through Tele-AYUSH systems, mobile diagnostics, and community-led health communication to overcome regional delivery barriers.
One Health & Environmental Sustainability: Examining the interface between human health, ecosystems, and medicinal plant biodiversity, supporting India’s progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through ecological, community-centered wellness interventions.

Distinguished Guests and Scholarly Leadership

The inaugural proceedings featured Chief Guest Dr. Ramachandra G. Reddy, Managing Director and CFO of Glory Pharma Chem India, alongside Guest of Honour Dr. M. Niranjan Babu, Executive Committee Member of the Pharmacy Council of India and Founder-Chairman of Seven Hills College of Pharmacy, Tirupati. Both leaders highlighted the necessity of rigorous scientific validation, quality standardization, and synergistic research between modern pharmaceutical manufacturing and traditional formulations.

Technical lectures and panel evaluations were steered by specialized resource persons representing central research institutes and medical colleges:

Dr. Renu Dixit, Professor and Medical Superintendent, Sri Venkateswara Ayurvedic Medical College, Tirupati
Dr. S. Sreenivasulu, Senior Scientist and Head, RASS-KVK, Tirupati
Dr. S. Rajan, Retired Senior Scientist and Head, Centre of Medicinal Plants Research in Homeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, Ooty
Dr. P. Sathiya Rajeswaran, Assistant Director (Siddha) & Scientist IV, Siddha Regional Research Institute, Puducherry
Prof. N. Savithramma, Retired Professor, Department of Botany, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati
Dr. P. Siva Santhosh Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women, Tirupati

Institutional Vision and Future Directions

Emphasizing the wider societal objective of the initiative, Vinay Maheshwari, Executive Director and Trustee of Mohan Babu University, noted that IACMI-2026 was structured to cultivate actionable dialogue around preventive, sustainable public health models. He affirmed that the actionable insights generated from the conference are intended to inform collaborative research, student-led inquiry, and policy frameworks that align modern healthcare practices with community-level healthcare realities.