While the economy of India has grown rapidly in the past decade, the country’s public health system faces enormous challenges. The growing income disparity between rich and poor has served to highlight the lack of access to primary health care for both the rural and urban poor. Critical health issues:

• a high rate of malnutrition in children under the age of three
• a high infant mortality rate, with diarrheal disease as the primary cause of early childhood mortality.
• poor sanitation and lack of potable water, along with increased resistance to drugs have also contributed to high rates of communicable diseases.
• with economic growth has come a greater need for treatment of chronic disease

Our Work:

In November 2008, AmeriCares officially launched operations in India with the establishment of an office in Mumbai and a warehouse in Bhiwandi. With on the ground staff, an increased supply of donated medicines, and a strategically located distribution hub, AmeriCares has expanded its work in-country and is better positioned to serve the surrounding regions of Asia and Africa. AmeriCares India is addressing a wide range of health care needs from primary health care, to acute illness, chronic disease, malnutrition and emergency response. A Mobile Clinics program has brought primary health care to the slums of Mumbai. See images of our work in India.

For more information on AmeriCares India visit www.AmeriCaresIndia.org

AmeriCares has been delivering life-saving medicines and medical supplies to health care providers in India since 1993. Through strong partnerships with local governmental and nongovernmental organizations AmeriCares supports clinics, schools, hospitals and rural health organizations and responds to emergencies wherever and whenever they occur.

To equip doctors and nurses with the tools they need to deliver quality care, AmeriCares India has provided medicines and supplies on an ongoing basis to hospitals, clinics and public health programs.

We have deepened our commitment to the region in order to help more people live longer, healthier lives with the development and growth of AmeriCares India. Visit www.AmeriCaresIndia.org

Many regions of India are prone to natural disasters and AmeriCares has provided immediate medical relief for many of them over the years including:

Earthquakes

(Maharashtra in 1993, Gujarat in 2001 and Kashmir in 2005)

Cyclones

(Orissa in 1999, 2009, West Bengal in 2009)

The Asian Tsunami

(Tamil Nadu in 2004)

Floods

(Gujarat and Mumbai in 2005, Bihar in 2007 and 2008, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh 2009) Orissa in 2011

Disaster Preparedness:

Through professional training, community awareness raising, emergency planning and prepositioning of key supplies. Read More »

Ongoing Medical Assistance:

Supplementing charity hospital access to critical care medicines and supplies, expanding community medical programs supply of primary care medicines Read More »

Health Worker Safety:

AmeriCares provides vaccinations, medical supplies, safety education and emergency preparedness training for doctors, nurses and health workers at hospitals and clinics. Learn more about our efforts to support health worker safety in India. Read More »

Health Care Access:

Operating medical camps in urban slums and rural areas. Read Story » running school based health promotion programs (education, screening, treatment.) Read Story »

An expanding mobile clinics program is providing regular health care access to the poor in the Mumbai slums. Read story

AmeriCares donates medical products to qualified U.S. health care professionals who are traveling to India to provide charitable medical care. Through this program, donated medicines and medical supplies reach impoverished and isolated communities where even basic medical care is inaccessible to the poor or often non-existent. AmeriCares donations cure infections, relieve pain, help patients manage chronic diseases and make life-changing surgeries possible.

Find out more about our Medical Outreach program