The young farmers of Una block in Gujarat, are on a mission. They have united in their effort to turn their farming enterprises around, creating new opportunities for their members and enhancing profits along the way, by forming the Dhanvantri Farmer Producer Company.

When 2 auditors from the Government Health & Sanitation Department visited Bharseli in 2020, they made a bee line for the ‘kuccha’ houses - avoiding the ‘pukka’ ones which were sure to have toilets. But they were shocked to find toilets in the kuccha houses too – and that they too were being used.

Vinitha Venkatraman is a social entrepreneur and Co-Founder of VIVA Development Strategies who has a long standing relationship with Ambuja Foundation. She joins us at Thrive, as a guest writer – sharing her insights and an outside perspective of some of the key facets of our work at Ambuja Foundation.

Sanjib (name changed) is a long haul truck driver who, like most other truckers across the country, spends an average of 12 hours on the road – driving freight over long distances and spending months at a time on the road. Irregular schedules, long hours, little physical activity, limited access to healthy food on the road, and stress make healthy living a challenge for long-haul truck drivers.

The inspiring stories of Ambuja Foundation’s beneficiaries have been captured in a stunning coffee table book format – highlighting their perseverance and ‘unstoppable’ drive in pursuing their livelihoods and passions.

The spare room in Mehra Sheikh’s house has been transformed. It’s become a sanitary pad production centre and it bustles from day to night as women come and go, meeting strict production targets for the new menstrual hygiene product.

The success of the Swacch Bharat Mission Gramin Phase 1, has played a crucial role in increasing sanitation facilities at household level across the country and many studies have attributed to a positive impact on community health especially women and children resulting in improvement in health indicators like child mortality rate and for that, there is a lot to celebrate. However rural India still has a long way to go to transform its solid and liquid waste management systems in order to achieve targets surrounding the sustainable development goals, and to bring to life Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of ‘total sanitation for all.’

‘Mental Health in Rural India? Is there a need?’ This is a question that echoes in the minds of many as we emerge from the intense stress of the pandemic, and is a key point of query for development sector professionals working at the grassroots.

2 Sakhis in Dadri went the extra mile during the pandemic lockdown to help combat COVID-19 and continue promoting other health issues among women. Armed with only mobile phones and a fire in the belly, Sashi Devi and Sudha Kumari embraced ‘digital’ to connect with over 9000 community members.

In working among adolescent girls, the importance of menstrual health and hygiene cannot be emphasized less. Myths and taboos are, however, highly prevalent and dispelling them become essential to executing a successful programme in this space.

The Swacch Bharat Mission was undoubtedly the biggest public health, behaviour change campaign in the world, with the Government undertaking the gargantuan task of making India Open Defecation Free. Whilst a lot of hurdles remain, the impacts are clear - *110 million household and public toilets were built in just 5 years and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that over 300,000 lives were saved as a result of fewer cases of diarrhea.

Last mile coverage of maternal healthcare in villages across India continues to remain a challenge. The quality of health service provided by Primary healthcare centres and Sub-centres is often sub optimal, essential medicines and beds in short supply as well as lack of qualified medical professionals.