Project CHAAR
About the Project
The Children’s Health Action, Awareness, and Resources Project (Project CHAAR) has been designed as a multifaceted resource to empower India’s students to take responsibility for refined hygiene, health, and sanitation in their own hands. Shining a light on more nuanced topics in healthcare such as microbes, viruses, and bacteria, the project aspires to be a holistic tool to help students from India’s underserved communities learn about the importance of biology as a tool for prevention, cure, and progress. By improving health and scientific literacy among the country’s rural regions, the project hopes to foster an understanding of the importance of healthy living and its impact on domains such as public health, environmental prevention, and career opportunities in the future.
Background
In a developing country like India, access to healthcare remains one of the key developmental challenges. Despite a goal to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030, India’s roadmap to improved medical facilities remains fraught with difficulties. The onset of the deadly waves of the coronavirus pandemic in India exposed the glaring gaps in the country’s medical facilities, as data suggests that there are a scant 1.4 hospital beds per 1,000 people as of 2022. Moreover, a persistent rural-urban divide significantly contributes to a widening gap in access to healthcare, especially as nearly 69% of the country’s population resides in rural areas according to the Census of 2011. In contrast, India’s rural zones are home to a meagre 1/3rd of the country’s medical facilities.
To that end, it appears that a rapid scaling of the country’s medical infrastructure is the need of the hour, especially given the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Not just medical facilities, but highly-skilled doctors, nurses, and medical personnel need to be brought into the fold of the country’s medical landscape. While studies suggest that India needs nearly 20 crore doctors by 2030 to meet its growing patient needs, an increased focus needs to be paid to medical education and upskilling. To that end, Project CHAAR (Children’s Health Action, Awareness, and Resources) aims to be a comprehensive resource to educate the future change makers of India on fundamental concepts in biology and health, in order to equip them with the requisite skills to promote improved individual and public health standards.
