Dear Reader,

The world’s water situation is dire. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean water—that’s almost one in four people. Four million people die of water-related diseases each year. Diarrhea is the second largest cause of child mortality in the world and kills up to 1,600 people a day. As a result of unsafe water, diarrhea and upper respiratory infections kill 3.5 million children under the age of 5.

World Water Day is in less than two weeks, and this issue focuses on the challenges of providing clean water and quality healthcare to those who need it most.

WHO estimates that out-of-pocket, point-of-care expenditures account for more than 70% of healthcare spending in India. This can continue the cycle of poverty.

Read more about Arogya Parivar, a rural healthcare business catering to the bottom of the pyramid. This is one initiative aiming to solve that problem. Currently, the program reaches 50 million rural Indians with plans to expand to 350 million in the next 10 years.

As always, we want to hear from you! If you have any comments, thoughts, or feedback, leave a comment on a specific post or get in touch.

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Editorial Team » Continue reading “Toward A Healthy World”

This story originally appeared in our March 10, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Novartis has employed a social business model to tackle the behemoth that is rural healthcare in India.

No one needs to be told that India is a huge country with consequently huge challenges. Of its 1.2 billion person population, more than 700 million people live in the country’s 640,000 villages. Half of national income is generated in rural India. At least 50% of the rural population lives on US$2-3 (INR90-135) per day. Many of these people are field laborers with a nominal daily wage. Falling ill, therefore, can have devastating effects on household income and on one’s ability to escape poverty.

Health education and healthcare are hard to come by in rural India. People have limited access to information about preventative and curative measures, as well as to professional medical treatment. Because there is this pervasive ignorance, India’s rural poor will suffer illness to keep working instead of seeking treatment. Evidently, there is a clear and present healthcare need to be met. » Continue reading “Healthcare as a Social Business”