The existing healthcare system is highly inadequate in that it does not reach the impoverished, far-flung villages where 80% of the population reside and rarely functions during the winters when the need is the highest. The harsh climatic and atmospheric conditions, high levels of poverty, low levels of awareness and development, all contribute to the high incidence of certain critical and chronic diseases in the region. The traditional healthcare system of the target area, currently being eroded and hence threatened, is based on 'amchi's {traditional healers who reside in and service a group of contiguous villages} who follow the Tibetan system of medicine which uses herbs and minerals for treatment. The programme is aimed at utilising traditional knowledge and creating and empowering area-specific institutions for addressing local issues of health and sanitation. It includes:
Health & Sanitation Studies
conducting research into health & sanitation issues
feasibility studies of potential technologies for improving health & sanitation status
Traditional Healer Services
establishing traditional healer institutions for delivering the required healthcare services
training and empowering traditional healers with scientific inputs
establishing nodal traditional health centres in the region
Sanitation Actions
generating awareness and educating the community on preventive healthcare and appropriate sanitation
harnessing, training and facilitating local women's groups for addressing issues of sanitation
The project strategy is two-pronged. Curative healthcare is sought to be addressed by revitalizing the traditional 'amchi' system, empowering the amchis with requisite modern inputs through training and some fundamental equipment/input support, as well as developing an institutional and delivery structure appropriate to current times. Preventive healthcare is sought to be addressed by large-scale community awareness generation and education programmes and appropriate lifestyle support in the form of sanitation and nutrition.
The project has been initiated in the Western Himalayas and the following modules are in the process of being carried out.
