Better health for all Indians
By Meenakshi Mahajan
July 26, 2023
The lack of adequate public health infrastructure disproportionately impacts India's poor and low-income communities. Health issues remain one of the leading causes of poverty in India. The healthcare sector spending by the Government of India is roughly 1 percent of the GDP and amongst the lowest for any major economy. Public health infrastructure needs to be stronger, as private healthcare costs are unaffordable for poor people. Most Indians cannot afford health insurance and must spend out-of-pocket for everyday health problems. Any major health issue is enough to drive a family deeper into poverty, either from the crippling expenses or the effects of ill health on their livelihood and productivity.
Organizations in the IPA community are working on several health-related challenges in India, partnering with the government and innovating to deliver improved access to health care and related resources to those who need it the most.
From 2000 to 2023, infant and maternal mortality rates have fallen significantly. However, India still accounts for 60 percent of the global infant and maternal mortality burden. While the solution is simple, the challenge is to deliver it cost-effectively and on a large scale to meet the needs of the country's population. Antara International and American India Foundation do much to help mothers and children at risk access timely prevention and treatment.
Antara has developed an ecosystem of interventions pinpointing high-risk individuals to ensure timely and focused care access. It works with and through state and national government and the community for public health delivery at scale. Its innovative AAA App digitally links the three frontline government health workers at the village level with a common beneficiary database, data sharing, and related services through which they can carry out their routine tasks and provide timely and focused care to beneficiaries.
AIF has designed its Maternal and Newborn Survival Initiative (MANSI) to reduce maternal and child mortality in rural, impoverished areas such as Jharkhand. MANSI utilizes a public-private partnership model to provide the resources and support required to empower local communities to care for their mothers and children while improving the local health system. It provides preventative and curative care for mothers and newborns from individual households to government health facilities to ensure new mothers and infants have the care they need to prepare for, survive, and thrive during and after pregnancy.
In the last 20 years, India has seen a shift from a high burden of infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which are now responsible for 63% of all deaths in India. Arogya World is a global health nonprofit organization working mainly in India to prevent NCDs, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and chronic lung diseases, through health education and lifestyle change. Arogya World's doorstep health model takes prevention to people where they live, learn, and work. It focuses on reaching a large population through scalable, science-based programs such as Healthy Schools, Healthy Workplaces, MyThali, and mDiabetes. It leverages technology, government, and corporate collaborations to deliver health and nutrition education.
India has a high burden of people with visual impairment, 49% of which can be corrected with eyeglasses. Proper vision increases productivity, sustains income-earning potential, enhances learning, and makes people safer on the roads and in their homes. Vision Spring is a pioneering, global social enterprise with a mission to provide access to affordable eyewear and innovative distribution and service strategies focused on consumers living on less than $4 per day. Also, it provides vision screening and training to nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, government agencies, and corporate clients. Vision Spring serves first-time wearers, working-age adults, women and girls, and students.
Project ECHO is a global network that provides the infrastructure for knowledge-sharing among medical doctors and specialists so that primary care physicians can treat complex medical conditions where they live. ECHO is bridging the knowledge gap and building capacities across education, sustainable livelihoods, and other development areas by training healthcare professionals, educators and community workers. ECHO India's innovative 'Hub and Spoke' Model of learning involves a team of experts serving as the hub, mentoring and training the spokes, who are a cohort of learners. This approach is facilitated through a cutting-edge digital infrastructure that enables scalable and sustainable capacity building in a cost-effective manner.
WISH Foundation is on a mission to scale innovations for creating an equitable healthcare system and make quality primary healthcare available and accessible to underserved populations. WISH Foundation's impact is being felt through its direct implementation programs, primary care solutions, strategic advisory, and thought leadership in healthcare. The organization is partnering with five state governments for upgrading and scale-up of high quality rural and urban primary healthcare programs through innovation and technology. Its services include capacity building of health care workers through professional development and in-service training, operating Digital Health and Wellness Centers across four states, and providing advisory and technical services to state governments.
In April 2023, India overtook China as the world's most populous country, and it is expected to continue to grow for several decades. There are challenges and opportunities to provide health solutions that address the needs of India's large demographic. Indian nonprofits can bring in the innovation that the sector needs and partner with the government to scale solutions for maximum impact.