 Focus Areas Market research indicates that, in India, ~25% of all outpatient and ~60% of all inpatient events lead to households taking loans at very high interest rates (3-5% per month) and being caught in a ''poverty trap''. Estimates indicate that 20 million people in India annually go below poverty line due to a health event. The fact that people are taking loans, means people are availing health services. Based on our field research, we believe the following are the key reasons for health events leading to poverty:
To address these issues, we have currently identified two focus areas for the Foundation - A.) Building Comprehensive Health Systems and B.) Building capacity for training Community Health Workers A.) Building Comprehensive health system System
level interventions are required to address the two issues highlighted
above. Hence, we support other grassroots community based
organisations to setup and operate comprehensive health systems with
appropriate accountability measures. Health
insurance is a potential tool to provide financing. However, we
believe that there are key gaps in the health insurance system that
we need to be addressed. For instance, in our target segment, most
families end up spending close to 70% of their health expenditure on
outpatient care like drugs, lab tests, and other indirect costs like
wage loss. But a typical health insurance does not provide these
benefits hence defeating the family of the security. Hence, the need to
promote a comprehensive health system including preventive, primary,
secondary and tertiary care (including labs tests, drugs, OPD
expense). B.) Immediate Priority of Resource Center - Building capacity for training Community Health Workers As
we
aim to provide not just health service, but good health for our
beneficiaries, we believe that awareness on preventive measures is
the first step. People in low income segments often suffer
from diseases or health problems which can be prevented by taking
simple measures. This is because there is a lack of information
on the preventive measures. Accessibility to advice on these measures
and treatment for smaller health problems is often a major problem
with this segment. Hence, there is a high need for a person from the
community to be able to provide this information. We address this
problem through having community health
workers (CHW) as part of the comprehensive health system. Training
of
CHWs on basic preventive, diagnostic and referral services and to drive
accountability in the system is a huge area
that has not been explored. We understand the
potential these CHWs hold for the community and want to invest in
building their capacity. Our initial research has indicated that while
there are few programs working in this domain, they mostly work in
isolation and focus a lot more on maternal and child care. There are
minimal experiments on such a holistic role for a CHW, both as a health
professional as well as a community activist to ensure accountability. Towards this goal, we envision building a world class resource center. This center would undertake the
following activities:
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