HALO
is the culmination of a movement from Aurangabad Medical College. A
group of discontent medical student felt their education was alienating
them from real world service to the poor and marginalized. They
explored, looked beyond their horizons and started working in villages
around Anadur, Maharashtra to gain hands-on experience. Their philosophy
began a movement that has changed the way health and poverty-relief
services are delivered.
Since its inception,
the Halo Medical Foundation has believed in taking a holistic approach
to improving the health of India’s rural poor. It has worked tirelessly
to tackle health inequities from both a distal and proximal level using
a gender and rights-based approach. They have initiated projects to
train local women health workers, create Self Help Groups, expand
women’s financial status through income generation activities, provide
primary and secondary medical care, mediate domestic violence, offer
health insurance, improve rural sanitation, and better care for
antenatal and postnatal mothers. Through these programs, the Halo
Medical Foundation has made significant improvements in the health and
economic status of over 70 villages in the Osmanabad District of
Maharashtra, India. Today more than hundred women health workers have
become the key persons for change in their village. They have become the
means for their developing villages to enter a new horizon of better
livelihood.
A group of women health workers
called Bharat Vaidyas are the nucleus of our health program. Women from their villages serve
as a primary contact point for community members to receive basic health
care. They are trained and supported to diagnose and treat health
ailments. 75% of all illnesses are treatable at the village level, and
these workers make health more affordable and accessible. Our goal is
to make ‘reduce health care costs to within the price of a bus ticket’,
Rs. 30 ($0.75 USD).
The health program
is connected to other social mobilization activities, combatting
poverty at all levels. Women's self-help groups form the basic unit of
mobilization and community organization and they act as the nodal points
of awareness building and education. Social education programs through Kalapathaks (street plays), campaigns, village animators are other important
features of our programs. HMF works to create a force of grassroots,
village-level animators and activists who drive the process of change
forward.
Our program has reached
the stage where community groups and women's self-help-groups are capable
of managing basic development issues at the village level. But this is
certainly not an end in itself; it is just a beginning. Our work has
reached a point where elaborate social action is definitely in offing.
HALO would certainly like to be more sensitive towards the basic
aspirations of people and accelerate the process of education and
awareness building. The process will go on with a solid support from
social workers and people.
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| Initiatives |
Savadhan! Kala Pathak
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"Bharat Vaidya "
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Campaign Against Child Marriages
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Committed to Humanity,
Working for
Health and Justice for all.
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Coming Soon
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