We believe every person and every family has the right to good health
Through a comprehensive and collaborative approach, we improve community health practices and access to quality healthcare for vulnerable households.
Health is a public good. We believe a robust public system is essential for health services to reach every corner of our country. Our core work is to support the public system at all levels – community health, primary healthcare, secondary hospitals – by improving their capacity and functioning.
In the central Adivasi belt of Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand, we work with frontline health workers to improve last-mile services. In Bengaluru, we run health centres in informal settlements.
Apart from on-the-ground work, we also support the building of an informed, skilled and dedicated health sector workforce through education. We launched a master’s programme in public health at the Azim Premji University in Bhopal. Our field studies and research grants under Health are focused on practical on-the-ground issues.
Since collaboration is key to our functions, we partner with health organisations that work in remote geographies and support them through grants as well.
To sum it up, our work in Health can be broadly divided into the following categories: Rural, Urban and Grants/Research/Education.
In the area of Health, we work directly on the ground though our Field Institutes and partners.
Rural
In 2023, the Foundation began work in a cluster of 10 districts around the borders of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. A team of public health professionals started supporting local Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Health Sub Centres in delivering comprehensive primary care services to villages under their purview. The team helps the health centres in conducting Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSNDs), developing capacity of their staff, and aiding the improvement of services at the PHCs and Sub-Centres and the referral pathways in the region.
Image credit - Purusottam Thakur
Nutrition has the most significant impact on health and potential in the first 1,000 days of life. Without adequate nutrition, brain development is slow and overall physical growth stunted.
In rural India, especially in remote villages, children between seven months and three years of age are highly vulnerable to malnutrition. While these children are entitled to Take Home Ration (THR), immunisation and health services, there are several factors that impair their access to these. Chief among such factors are geographical and infrastructural barriers, along with the lack of awareness among caretakers of the children.
Image credit - Purusottam Thakur
Further, the parents of these children leave them with older siblings and grandparents when they go out for work. This grossly affects the child’s overall nutrition and development.
A creche is a community-based centre run by an NGO where mothers leave their young children when they are at work. Creches seek to bridge the gap between children under three years of age and their access to proper nutrition, health and Early Childhood Development (ECD) interventions. The creches also enable the older siblings to continue schooling, and mothers to join the workforce.
Under our Rural Creche Initiative, we support the operations of creches across the Adivasi-dominated areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, in partnership with civil society organisations (CSOs). So far, we have set up ~300 creches, and plan to set up and operate 7,000 to 8,000 creches in these states in a span of 10 years.
These creches – known as Shishu Ghar in Jharkhand and Odisha, and Laika Ghar in Chhattisgarh – are run in close coordination with the community. These provide daycare services for children aged six months to three years, for seven to eight hours a day, six days a week.
These centres, run by creche workers, provide one hot meal and snacks two times a day. They also regularly monitor the height and weight of children, and refer severely malnourished children to the Nutrition Resource Centre for medical support.
Urban
Access to comprehensive healthcare in urban communities, too, is a priority area for us. In 2022, we began work in three migrant settlement clusters in Bengaluru. Our work has expanded now to include two more clusters. We reach around 20,000 households.
In each cluster, we have direct community health work, a health centre that provides consultations, diagnostics and medicines, and a referral structure that helps people avail services at the nearest Primary Health Centre or government hospital.
Grants / Research / Education
The pressing need for knowledge, skills and expertise in the health sector came to the fore during the severe health and humanitarian crisis triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak in India. This cemented our resolve to strengthen the public health system by launching a master’s programme in public health (MPH) at our university in Bhopal.
Through field studies and research, we focus on practical on-the-ground issues and challenges that affect the delivery of health services in the country.
We also partner with health organisations through grants that support their work in some of the remotest locations in India.
If you want to apply for a grant for your work in the area of health, click here.
