Health

We believe every person and every family has the right to good health

Through a comprehensive and collaborative approach, we improve community health practices and access to quality healthcare for vulnerable households.

Health is a public good. We believe a robust public system is essential for health services to reach every corner of our country. Our core work is to support the public system at all levels – community health, primary healthcare, secondary hospitals – by improving their capacity and functioning. Our work in the domain—which started in 2022 and is now rapidly expanding — is guided by a few principles:

Our aim is to help families and individuals live healthy lives; it is not about access to healthcare services alone.

It requires a strong frontline community health system, backed by primary and secondary healthcare services.

Only an effective public health system can achieve this objective by reaching every corner of the country, and in a manner that is affordable and sustainable over decades.

In the area of Health, we work directly on the ground through our Field Institutes. Since collaboration is key to our functions, we also partner with health organisations that work in remote geographies and support them through grants as well.

We also support the building of an informed, skilled and dedicated health sector workforce through education. Our field studies and research grants under Health focus on practical on-the-ground issues.

Broad categories of our current work in Health are as follows:

Azim Premji Health Equity Fellowship

Fellows will practise in hospitals with a diverse case load and be mentored by highly experienced senior doctors and their teams. This will give them firsthand exposure to practising effectively in resource-scarce settings.

The Azim Premji Health Equity Fellowship for postgraduate doctors is a fully funded fellowship that provides them a unique opportunity to get hands-on experience, in diverse areas of specialisations, at reputed, rural hospitals in India.

Creche Initiative

The Azim Premji Foundation’s creche initiative seeks to improve the nutritional status of very vulnerable children in the age group of seven months to three years. Currently, 1,100 such creches are operational across the five states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Odisha. More than 9,000 children are enrolled in these creches.

Health Grants

We partner with health organisations through grants that support their work in some of the remotest locations in India. We support the public system at all levels – community health, primary healthcare, secondary hospital – by improving their capacity and functioning.

If you want to apply for a grant for your work in the area of health, click here.

Partnership with CMC Vellore

In October 2024, to offer value-based healthcare and medical education, primarily for the disadvantaged, the Azim Premji Foundation announced a partnership agreement with Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore. As part of the same, the Foundation extended an INR 500 crore grant to CMC Vellore to set up a medical college at its Chittoor campus and upgrade the existing 120-bed hospital there into a teaching hospital with 422 beds.

Public Health Education

The pressing need for knowledge, skills and expertise in the health sector came to the fore during the severe health and humanitarian crisis triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak in India. We now offer a master’s programme in public health (MPH) at the Azim Premji University campus in Bhopal. The programme is designed to focus on practice and competencies.

Research

We undertake and fund independent research studies in public health. These studies seek to improve the understanding of the health realities of underserved communities. Apart from direct studies being carried out as an integral part of our fieldwork, we support other organisations through research grants.

Health Research Grants 2025

Building a deeper understanding of the realities of public health in India

Health work on the ground

Rural health work

In 2023, the Foundation began work in a cluster of 10 districts around the borders of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. A team of public health professionals started supporting local Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Health Sub-Centres in delivering comprehensive primary care services to villages under their purview. The team helps the health centres in conducting Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSNDs), developing the capacity of their staff, and aiding the improvement of services at the PHCs and Sub-Centres and the referral pathways in the region.

We are currently working in 11 blocks across 6 states where we have our Field presence

Our team continues to support the government in improving the frontline health system.

Urban health work

Access to comprehensive healthcare in urban communities, too, is a priority area for us. We currently work in five migrant settlement clusters in Bengaluru. We reach around 25,000 households and operate 4 health centres.

In each cluster, we have direct community health work, primary health centres with general physicians, laboratories and pharmacies, and referral help desks in government hospitals. 

Strengthening nutrition in midday meals

In August 2024, the Azim Premji Foundation signed an agreement with the Government of Karnataka to support the state’s mid-day meal programme. The Foundation pledged a sum of INR 1,500 crore over three years to provide eggs to students from Grades I to X in government and government-aided schools across all 31 districts in Karnataka. The initiative covers approximately 55 lakh students, ensuring nutritional support on all six school days of the week.

Rural

In 2023, the Foundation began work in a cluster of 10 districts around the borders of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. A team of public health professionals started supporting local Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Health Sub Centres in delivering comprehensive primary care services to villages under their purview. The team helps the health centres in conducting Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSNDs), developing capacity of their staff, and aiding the improvement of services at the PHCs and Sub-Centres and the referral pathways in the region.

Image credit - Purusottam Thakur

Rural Creche Initiative

Nutrition has the most significant impact on health and potential in the first 1,000 days of life. Without adequate nutrition, brain development is slow and overall physical growth stunted.

In rural India, especially in remote villages, children between seven months and three years of age are highly vulnerable to malnutrition. While these children are entitled to Take Home Ration (THR), immunisation and health services, there are several factors that impair their access to these. Chief among such factors are geographical and infrastructural barriers, along with the lack of awareness among caretakers of the children.

Image credit - Purusottam Thakur

Further, the parents of these children leave them with older siblings and grandparents when they go out for work. This grossly affects the child’s overall nutrition and development.

A creche is a community-based centre run by an NGO where mothers leave their young children when they are at work. Creches seek to bridge the gap between children under three years of age and their access to proper nutrition, health and Early Childhood Development (ECD) interventions. The creches also enable the older siblings to continue schooling, and mothers to join the workforce.

Under our Rural Creche Initiative, we support the operations of creches across the Adivasi-dominated areas in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, in partnership with civil society organisations (CSOs). So far, we have set up ~300 creches, and plan to set up and operate 7,000 to 8,000 creches in these states in a span of 10 years.

These creches – known as Shishu Ghar in Jharkhand and Odisha, and Laika Ghar in Chhattisgarh – are run in close coordination with the community. These provide daycare services for children aged six months to three years, for seven to eight hours a day, six days a week.

These centres, run by creche workers, provide one hot meal and snacks two times a day. They also regularly monitor the height and weight of children, and refer severely malnourished children to the Nutrition Resource Centre for medical support.