REACH

Rural Effective Affordable Comprehensive Healthcare

The project is a working model of Proactive health care delivery system that offers promotive, preventive and primary healthcare to rural population.
One of SHARE INDIA's remarkable programs REACH (Rural Effective Affordable Comprehensive Health Care). A model of universal, comprehensive rural health care that provides health education, immunizations, antenatal care and primary to tertiary care for a population of 45,000 in 42 villages in the Ranga Reddy District of Andhra Pradesh. Local residents with at least a sixth grade education are trained by MediCiti staff and charged with the task of visiting each home in their assigned territory at least once a month. These Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) collect birth and death data.

Goals of Reach

Universal health care to rural population.
Effective (not Nominal) health care.
Affordable (within the economic means of Indian society at large).
Comprehensive (Should include promote, preventive, primary and secondary care).
Sustainability (Accessibility and affodability contribute to substance, growth and development).

Qualitative Objectives

Reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates in conformity with national goals.
Stabilisation of population growth.
Prevention of vaccine preventable diseases.
Preventing diseases due to nutritional deficiencies.
Control of blindness due to cataract.
Promotion of reproductive and child health.

Objectives of Reach

To improve nutrition and health of the women particularly pregnant and lactating mother and to empower them through increased awareness to take better care of their personal and household health and nutrition needs.
To reduce low birth weight babies and premature births and infant mortality thereby improving the quality of the population.
To improve the nutrition health psycho social status of children 0-6 years of age with particular emphasis on preventing malnutrition and to reduce infection by immunisation.
To eradicate night blindness by vitamin A supplementation, anemia by iron supplementation,goitre by iodine supplementation.

Strategy of Reach

To strengthen and enhance the quantity and quality of maternal and child health programme through Integrated Child Development Services.
Identification: To identify pregnant, lactating and children under 6 in every village Their Demographic Profile and Health and Medical Record to be Tracked on a Computer.
To prepare a crisp and flexible model for the field workers to achieve the desired results.
To cause delivery of an ambulatory care to the villagers with help of Mobile units.
To provide proctively health and medical services and not wait for the individual or the patient to seek the services.
To train the field staff to enhance their skills (Capacity Building).
To plan, organise and step up nutrition education (IEC - Information, Education and Communication).
To be in close liaison with the public health and medical authorities.
Step up health education for empowerment of women to maintain family and community health.

Publications

1.	Tatineni A., Vijayaraghavan K., Reddy P.S., Narendranath B, and Reddy R.P., Health Metrics Improve Childhood Immunization Coverage in A Rural Population of Andhra Pradesh. Indian Journal of Public Health, 2009, 53:41;43.
2.	Enakshi Ganguly, “Supplementary Role of Health Metrics for Reducing Total Fertility Rate in a North-Indian State.” - .Online Journal of Health and Allied Science, Peer Reviewed, Open Access, Free Online Journal Published Quarterly : Mangalore, South India : ISSN 0972-5997 Volume 11, Issue 4; Oct-Dec 2012.
3.	Ganguly E, Sharma PK, Bunker CH. -"Burden of acute infections (except respiratory and diarrheal) and its risk factors among under-five children in India:" A systematic review and meta-analysis. Indian J Child Health. 2016; March 15.
4.	Enakshi Ganguly, Rahul Gupta, Alik Widge, R. Purushotham Reddy, K. Balasubramanian, and P. S. Reddy. Increasing Full Child Immunization Rates by Government Using an Innovative Computerized Immunization Due List in Rural India, 2018. The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing Volume 55: 1–8.