Neighbours Aid aims to make a difference in the lives of India’s rural poor.
Why do people in rural India really need our help?
There is a lot of inequity with India’s healthcare system.
- 75% of health infrastructure, medical personnel and resources are centered in urban areas where only 27% of the population actually lives.
- There is a lack of adequate facilities and limited access to poor quality facilities.
- There is a shortage of doctors and nurses and a shortfall of 79.9% of medical specialists with 68% unfilled vacancies.
- Working in rural areas is difficult due to safety issues, lack of electricity, safe water, sanitation and good road access.
- Life expectancy in India is only 63 years – the statistics reveal high rates of infant and maternal mortality in rural areas.
- Cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure cases are on the rise.
- There is a high incidence of infectious and water born diseases, diarrhoea, typhoid, hepatitis, whooping cough, measles, TB and respiratory ailments.
What is Shalom Hospital?
Shalom Hospital is a Teaching Hospital which, when fully operational, will offer a 50-bed general ward, Two ICU rooms and a pharmacy on the ground floor, a nursing college offering a four year degree course on the second floor and nurses accommodation on the top floors.
Shalom Hospital is situated on the outskirts of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, a state in the southern coastal region of India and will service thousands of tribal people from 32 surrounding villages with no access to healthcare
The Meaning Behind the Name
Our Indian in country partners chose the name shalom because it means peace in many languages. The Hebrew origin however has a much richer meaning – wholeness, nothing broken or missing, everything in harmony – a perfect description of what the staff at the hospital hope to achieve through offering medical care to some of India’s poorest tribal people.
