By Pavitra Mohan and Naina Seth “According to a study by researchers at the Public Health Foundation of India data, the expenditure on healthcare in India pushes 55 million people into poverty every year, a testimony to the need for affordable healthcare. At the same time, public expenditure on health is declining. In 2018-19, healthcare … Continue reading The long road to the ‘Right to Health’ in India
Notes from Harvar: A descriptive and evaluative observation of a VHSNC meeting
Written by Srividya Ramanathan, Research Assistant, IIM Udaipur This blog is part of the series of blogs on Aspur Project under the Primary Healthcare Initiative (PHI), a partnership between Basic Healthcare Services and Centre for Healthcare. Srividya has elaborately explained her observations during the visit with the Village Health, Sanitation, and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC) at Harvar Block in Aspur … Continue reading Notes from Harvar: A descriptive and evaluative observation of a VHSNC meeting
Silicosis: The Occupational Hazard of Doing God’s Work
Written by Vania D’souza, India Fellow, 2021 While those detected with silicosis receive their compensations after tedious attempts to register, there are many who don’t. “I have been told to come back when my lungs are much worse. They said that I don’t have enough Silicosis present and I should work some more to receive the … Continue reading Silicosis: The Occupational Hazard of Doing God’s Work
MCHN Days: Taking Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition to the Communities.
Written by Ijyaa Singh, Joint Research Assistant, IIM Udaipur & Basic Healthcare services, Udaipur. To improve access to maternal health, child health, and nutrition (MCHN) services at the village level, MCHN Day is scheduled for every Thursday in Rajasthan. This ensures that services such as antenatal care (ANC), supplementary nutrition, counselling, and referral are provided … Continue reading MCHN Days: Taking Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition to the Communities.
A Gentle Introduction to VHSNC
Written by Jaspreet Tuteja, Officer, Centre for Healthcare, IIM Udaipur With a vision to decentralize the health planning, the National Health Mission (NHM) proposed the creation of VHSCs (Village health and sanitation committee) at revenue villages of each block of the district in 2005. In the year 2011, Nutrition was also included within the ambit … Continue reading A Gentle Introduction to VHSNC
How to contain India’s TB Pandemic
TB is identified as one of India’s major public health problems. Around 1.8 million people developed TB in India, according to the union Health Ministry’s India TB Report 2021. And over 0.4 million died due to TB in India in 2020, according to the World Health Organization. Globally, India accounted for 26 percent of the … Continue reading How to contain India’s TB Pandemic
Did Covid-19 ‘Other’ The ASHAs From Their Own?
Written by Priyanshu K. ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) have been instrumental in managing the pandemic across the country. They carried out several responsibilities in the past year – identifying people showing symptoms of Corona, linking them to quarantine facilities or ensuring home isolation, providing them with medicines and following up on them. A report by … Continue reading Did Covid-19 ‘Other’ The ASHAs From Their Own?
A Photo Story
What does working in primary healthcare mean? Voices of young doctors from rural southern Rajasthan.
Apexa Raithatha, Divya Manchanda, Nithin Ignatius, Shyamsundar Raithana and Sanjana Brahmawar Mohan The domain of primary healthcare has 2 sides, like those of a coin: many doctors speak of the wide range of conditions they see and the emergencies they manage in situations where they often do not have the luxury of investigations for support, … Continue reading What does working in primary healthcare mean? Voices of young doctors from rural southern Rajasthan.
Volunteering In Response To Covid-19: A Case From Rural Rajasthan
Read about how the network of volunteers at Basic HealthCare Services worked towards building awareness during the second wave of covid, and providing medicines, advising on home care and following up on identified patients. Click on the link below to read full blog https://www.indiafellow.org/blog/2021/08/volunteering-in-response-to-covid-19-a-case-from-rural-india/ – by Priyanshu Krishnamoorti, who is an India Fellow and an … Continue reading Volunteering In Response To Covid-19: A Case From Rural Rajasthan
Thinc series: Migration and Healthcare | ‘Reclaiming of trust among the migrant population is important’
Moderated by Deputy Associate Editor Udit Misra, this edition had panelists discuss healthcare provisions for migrants, the need for community-based health services and universal health coverage Click on the linke below to read full article. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/third-edition-migration-and-healthcare-reclaiming-of-trust-among-the-migrant-population-is-important-7371303/
Moving beyond vitals – looking at the person behind the patient in primary health care
After completing my post graduate training in community medicine, I worked at a medical college for almost a decade, independently leading a community health program. We had a presence in 150 villages across 3 districts of Gujarat as a part of our direct service delivery program and worked in a tribal block as part of … Continue reading Moving beyond vitals – looking at the person behind the patient in primary health care
Winning back the trust of communities
Rebuilding trust in the public healthcare system can help combat vaccine hesitancy in rural communities. Click on the link below to read full article. https://idronline.org/article/health/tackling-vaccine-hesitancy-in-rural-rajasthan/ – By Sanjana Brahmawar Mohan, director at Basic HealthCare Services and Pavitra Mohan, director at Basic HealthCare Services
BBC podcast: Worklife India: Covid: India’s child malnutrition crisis
An estimated 115 million children in India are said to be at risk of malnutrition. Click on the below link to listen to the podcast. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct2f39
BBC Podcast:How can rural India battle COVID?
What can be done to control the spread of the pandemic in rural areas, and is there a way to resolve the under-reporting of actual cases and fatalities? Click on the below link to listen to the podcast.
BBC Podcast: Worklife India: COVID: How can rural India battle COVID?
What can be done to control the spread of the pandemic in rural areas, and is there a way to resolve the under-reporting of actual cases and fatalities? Click the below link listen to the podcast : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct2f34
Action to prevent and manage COVID-19 in rural India
In the second wave of the pandemic in India, we are seeing an insidious but sure increase in COVID-19 in rural areas of South Rajasthan; much more than in first wave. Higher infectivity of the virus, massive transmission in urban areas and greater mobility of people between rural and urban areas appear to be responsible … Continue reading Action to prevent and manage COVID-19 in rural India
This World TB Day, let us listen to poor TB patients in rural and urban India
“I am suffering for more than 6 months. I have been to many government hospitals, but they do not check properly- wahan jaane se gun nahi hua (there was no improvement there). That is why I travel 70 kms to come here- here you check us properly”- a 55 year old male visiting AMRIT Clinic in … Continue reading This World TB Day, let us listen to poor TB patients in rural and urban India
Reflections on a Book: ‘A Doctor’s Experiment in Bihar’
Reflections on a Book: ‘A Doctor’s Experiment in Bihar’ A small introduction It is a book about a doctor who had a purpose – to transform maternal and child healthcare in the unserved population of India. After completing her MS in Obstetrics and Gynaecology she decided to work in a district hospital in Bihar and … Continue reading Reflections on a Book: ‘A Doctor’s Experiment in Bihar’
A Balanced Diet Amidst Imbalances
A Balanced Diet Amidst Imbalances Most people have only two meals a day. They mainly eat rotis, sometimes only rotis. It’s interesting how just ‘Rota/Roti’ is referred as a meal here. Whenever I carry khichdi or Poha for lunch, I’ve been asked several times by different people, “Arey khana nahi khaoge?”. While a meal is seen to be incomplete … Continue reading A Balanced Diet Amidst Imbalances