The Grassroots Initiative
by Namita Azad & Karthik Narasimhan
Grassroots was conceptualized in the summer of 2011 by Namita Azad and Karthik Narasimhan with the goal of creating education and awareness models to be implemented in underprivileged global communities.
With this vision Grassroots began working with hospitals and organizations which were immersed in communities disconnected from the sphere of health education and awareness. Parkijuli Christian Hospital, located in the rural region of the North Eastern part of India, was the the first project. With them, Grassroots worked in areas of expanding their village health program, incorporating education material on the prevalent health conditions in that region such as HIV/AIDS, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and basic health care.
The second Grassroots project is in conjunction with the Riverkids Project. Riverkids is an initiative started in Cambodia. Its primary mission is the prevention of trafficking and abuse of children. Given the health status of the children and the financial status of the families, Riverkids provides subsidies for health provisions, and their nurses and social workers also accompany families to hospitals and clinics to advocate for them. Follow-ups are provided to assist in assuring that the right treatment is being given. Nurses also do home visits. This is where Grassroots will be stepping in, to bridge the gap of education. In particular, we will be conducting education sessions with the nurses and community health workers on the nutritional disparities of currently served meals at the organization. This will be supplemented with education on the universal health standards of diet and nutrition, and the distribution of materials. Grassroots will also conduct basic BMI scoring of the children at Riverkids to evaluate their malnutrition status. With this, we hope to better the nutritional status of the children as well have it translate into their families.
Grassroots aims to continue being a part of similar projects in organizations and health institutes globally and to provide aid to the affected communities by enhancing education and awareness. We believe that the right to a healthy tomorrow is a human right. The power to make an informed decision for a healthier future for an individual and community is the goal of Grassroots.
If you are a part of an organization or institute which is involved in similar work please write to us at grassroots.health.org@gmail.com. To keep up with the work Grassroots is doing, bookmark our website http://grassrootsorg.wordpress.com and follow our Facebook page.
udantya* 
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