Bringing healthcare and clean water to India’s villages
Despite areas of rapid economic growth, three quarters of India’s population still live on less than $2 a day.
The most vulnerable are often those people who live in isolated villages and who often have little access to basic services. Yet bringing clean water and healthcare to such areas is a central part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
E-Healthpoints
The Eleos Foundation invests in projects which provide access to these basic services for some of the world’s poorest people.
In Punjab, India, they wanted to invest in E-Healthpoints: simple, pre-fabricated buildings which contain both a powerful water purification system and a medical consultation area with a video conference connection to expert regional doctors.
Eleos could only support the creation of E-Healthpoints if it could encourage investors to fund the initiative, something which needed a strong legal framework.
This was where A4ID came in.
Investment
A4ID partnered Eleos with enthusiastic and expert lawyers who gave them legal advice on a pro bono basis.
The legal partners guided Eleos in establishing two new legal entities: the Eleos Healthpoint Investors Fund and Eleos Investments Management. The first fund made investment in E-Healthpoints possible, while the second was set up to facilitate future expansion.
This work not only made investment in E-Healthpoints possible but provided a template for future investments. Executive Director of Eleos, Andy Lower explained:
“If we had not received this invaluable legal advice on a pro bono basis the cost to us would have been prohibitive and we would not have been able to continue with the E-Healthpoint project, as it is, we have investors who are supporting 13 new Healthpoints in rural India providing quality healthcare using an innovative and effective model.”
Sustainable development
This work has helped drive forward sustainable development in the region.
Now people living in India’s most isolated villages can see doctors when they may never have done so before; women are able to consult privately with female doctors rather than missing out on treatment; high quality generic medicines are accessible and affordable, as are state of the art diagnostic tests.
And as importantly, clean, safe drinking water is available to thousands of people for the first time preventing people’s from falling ill as a result of waterborne diseases.
