Expand access to health services and products of a high quality at affordable prices to disadvantaged communities worldwide
Main beneficiary countries:India - Cambodia - Tanzania - Afghanistan - Peru - Uganda - Dominican Republic - Kenya - United States
Operation ASHA (OA)
Operation ASHA has developed a local, deep, low cost, last mile delivery system that is replicable worldwide. It serves 15.6 million people, living in over 5000 slums, villages and tribal areas across India and Cambodia with its own staff. Its model has also been replicated by third parties in India and seven other countries: Afghanistan, Tanzania, Peru, Uganda, Kenya, Dominican Republic and Cambodia. Operation ASHA’s CHWs raise awareness, scour the communities for symptomatics, ensure testing, link them to high quality medical practitioners and finally provide treatment and ensure adherence. Operation ASHA works in collaborations with private sector hospitals as well as governments/ public health departments, which provide medicines, diagnostics and physicians’ services mostly for free. CHWs are supported heavily with technology applications, including the world renowned eCompliance. Its first version was built with support from Microsoft Research. The partnership was tweeted by Bill Gates on Dec 7, 2012. The technology also produces accurate and reliable data, which is collated into an electronic medical record system and produces reports at the click of a button. In addition, Operation ASHA has developed applications for detection, management of lab results and accounting of user fee. Baxter, a multinational pharma company, Columbia University, USA and German Leprosy & TB Relief Association have taken licenses. Operation ASHA serves the poorest It currently covers five areas: Tuberculosis, HIV/ TB Co-infection, Haemophilia, Diabetes, Heart Diseases and Adolescent Health. Testing for blood sugar with glucometer is also provided. The idea is to ultimately develop Operation ASHA into a comprehensive pipeline that can deliver all health and related services and products to the Bottom of the Pyramid market. In terms of number of patients served, Operation ASHA is a big TB control NGO in India. It achieves a good treatment success rate, at a low cost. Simultaneously, CHWs deliver many products like ORS, contraceptives, Iron and Calcium tablets, nutritional supplements, and non-perishable food. In the delivery process, Operation ASHA has generated employment for nearly 200 semi-literate disadvantaged youths. It has also trained 4000 village youths in Cambodia on detection, prevention and treatment of TB.
Sector: Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
Country of origin: India
Healthcare themes targeted
Stage of development:
Area where initiative is utilised
Initiative start date
Initiative end date
Financing method
Economic model(s)
The problem of tuberculosis.
The proposed solution is law cost. For example, for TB, Operation ASHA’s drop-out rate for TB patients in India is 5 times lower that the national average of 20%. Its detection rate is also higher than national average.
The salient features of OA’s model :
Impact:
Evaluation Measures for Program: Following key performance indicators are collated, tracked and reviewed monthly on a routine basis. This will be done for the Proposed Project also.
Information, education and communication for behaviour change (IEC) - Patient monitoring and medical data
7000000 Number of beneficiaries since launch
384000 Number of users per Year
Yes
No
No
Yes
evaluated independently
Health: Healthcare professionals and structures
Academic entities: Universities, research laboratories, etc.
Health: Healthcare professionals and structures
Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
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