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the problem:
We stood outside a padlocked, whitewashed government hospital on the outskirts of Naigaon, a remote village in rural India.
The building, about the size of a three-car garage, was small and box-shaped with barred windows and, by all appearances, abandoned. In an area where these state-run hospitals are plenty in number, they offer little to the people who live there. The building was empty.
"They've never seen a doctor here," said Jayesh, one of the staff members at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), a nongovernmental organization headquartered in nearby Jamkhed, where we were staying.
That was during a trip my classmates and I made last year to work with the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in Jamkhed, India. Through the Periclean Scholars program at Elon University, we're creating a feature-length movie that delves into the subject of health care in rural India. It's at once a piece about the country and its complexity, but it's also about health care troubles in the developing world. The deficiencies in government health services force organizations like CRHP to come in and teach villagers about sustainable health care, providing them with health services and knowledge they would otherwise lack access too.
The film looks into how the health care system in India has left people behind — and the alternatives that try to address this. Health care in India is an important topic to explore for several reasons:
- India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world by its public
health spending is ranked at 171 on a list of 175 countries
- Malnutrition, neonatal diseases, diarrhoea and pneumonia are the major
causes of death for children in India
- India has 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people compared with a global average
of 4
- The national mortality rate for under-fives in the poorest fifth of the
population is 92 in 1,000 compared with 33 for the highest fifth
- Only about 50 million middle-class Indians can afford private health care
This documentary aims to tell the story of India's poor and their struggle to access quality health care.
The first step toward change is to make people aware of the issue and of alternatives that exist to provide health care to those who fall through the cracks of state systems. Through this documentary we hope to raise awareness about the issue in India and to start a conversation about ensuring access to quality health care for poor communities world wide.
vital stats:
people impacted:
50
people involved:
25
why it's important:
As part of an organization called Periclean Scholars (for more info check out the elevator speech video below) we've spent the last three years studying India, its history and social issues in the country. Several of us from our organization have had the opportunity to travel to India and partner with individuals and organizations there, learning about their experiences and brainstorming pathways for sustainable change. This documentary is an outgrowth of everything we've learned and experienced.
"Health for All" will encompass complicated issues like the rights of health care and role of nonprofits, while centering around one simple point: people in poverty don't have access to basic care. The documentary aims to educate the general public as well as politicians and health care providers about the issues. We hope that it will raise questions about the access that poor communities have to quality health care world wide, and through education and increased awareness act as a catalyst for positive change.
By focusing on three different types of alternative systems in three different regions we're aiming to demonstrate various solutions and how they play out in different rural and urban settings. Viewers will see footage from a social business, a non-profit, a public-private partnership and a government hospital, all striving to provide health care services in various ways. Scenes cover thousands of miles, dozens of communities and four different languages. The documentary will demonstrate that there are no simple solutions, but there are concrete ways that individuals and organizations can work toward ensuring better health for all.
the plan of action:
As a documentary team, we're making a film that follows three different organizations as they pursue this idea of health for all. One of the organizations is in rural Maharashtra, working with impoverished villagers; another is based in the slums of Bombay; and a third is on the outskirts of Hyderabad. We need some point of comparison for these alternative systems, so we've also highlighted a government hospital in Delhi.
For the month of January we were in India shooting the documentary. We shot in Bombay for 5 days at a social business, Hyderabad for 4 days at a government-supported commission on rural poverty, and a nonprofit in rural Maharashtra for about a week. We also got footage in Pune, and we spent the last 4 days shooting at a government hospital in Delhi.
We returned to North Carolina with hours upon hours of B-roll and interviews and with an even greater understanding of the depth and complexity of the issue. The next few months will be spent writing, editing and producing the film, keeping in mind what we've learned and comparing it with the extensive background research we've done on the topic. The team currently working on making this project a reality includes directors, producers, writers, editors, researchers, editors, audio techs, a composer, artists, fact-checkers, translators and donors. There are dozens of students, professors and professionals involved in this project, each of us with a growing passion to share what we've learned about this issue with others. We plan to screen the documentary publicly both in the US and in India, to submit it to film festivals and to allow it to be used as an educational resource.
how you can get involved:
Join our pursuit of better health for all by informing yourself more about the situation of those who don't have access to quality health care in your community, and around the world. Check out the organizations that we showcased as alternatives and consider supporting their work in India as well:
www.jamkhed.org
www.swasthindia.in
www.serp.ap.gov.in
Let us know as if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for the documentary. We would love to hear from you.
project updates:
