Health

Inadequate and inaccessible health care and medical aid in rural areas and urban slums are one of the biggest challenges facing India. With more than 70 percent population living in rural areas and low level of health facilities, mortality rates due to diseases are on a high.

Healthcare is the right of every individual but lack of quality infrastructure, the dearth of qualified medical functionaries, and non-access to basic medicines and medical facilities thwart its reach to 60% of the population in India. A majority of 700 million people lives in rural areas where the condition of medical facilities is deplorable. Considering the picture of grim facts there is a dire need of new practices and procedures to ensure that quality and timely healthcare reaches the deprived corners of the Indian villages. Though a lot of policies and programs are being run by the Government but the success and effectiveness of these programs are questionable due to gaps in the implementation. In rural India, where the number of Primary health care centres (PHCs) is limited, 8% of the centres do not have doctors or medical staff, 39% do not have lab technicians and 18% PHCs do not even have a pharmacist.
India also accounts for the largest number of maternity deaths. A majority of these are in rural areas where female health care and hygiene is the lowest priority. Even in private sector, health care is often confined to family planning and antenatal care and do not extend to more primary yet critical services like providing sufficient nutrition and supplements, access to hygienic sanitary pads and their disposal, scientific sex education among adolescents etc.

To control the spread of diseases and reduce the growing rates of mortality due to lack of adequate health facilities, special attention needs to be given to health care in rural areas. The key challenges in the healthcare sector are low quality of care, poor accountability, lack of awareness, and limited access to facilities.

The Foundation intends to focus on these challenges.