Looking at the Role of the Non-Governmental Organizations in Primary Health Care Field in India to Meet the Millennium Development Goals

Abstract

In India, it was the 1970s which saw rapid growth in the formation of formally registered NGOs and the process continues to this day. Most NGOs have created their respective thematic, social group and geographical priorities such as poverty alleviation, community health, education, housing, human rights, child rights, women’s rights, natural resource management, water and sanitation; and to these ends they put to practice a wide range of strategies and approaches. Primarily, their focus has been on the search for alternatives to development thinking and practice; achieved through participatory research, community capacity building and creation of demonstrable models. When we review some of the work done by NGOs over the past 3 decades, we find that they have contributed greatly to nation building. Many NGOs have worked hard to include children with disability in schools, end caste-based stigma and discrimination, prevent child labour and promote gender equality resulting in women receiving equal wages for the same work compared to men. During natural calamities they have played an active role in relief and rehabilitation efforts, in particular, providing psycho-social care and support to the disaster affected children, women and men. NGOs have been instrumental in the formation and capacity building of farmers and producers’ cooperatives and women’s self-help groups. Recent years have seen a growing capacity of nongovernmental organizations to develop patterns of cooperation among themselves locally, nationally, and internationally, for consultation and exchange of information, or for joint action. In the area of Primary Health Care and Development NGOs can play pivotal roles in the two major developmental approaches as: 1. Integrated Human Development 2. Community Participation This study paper attempts to look at the Non-Government Organisation played and can continue to play in the area of development of primary health care in India with an integrated and combined approach to poverty and health, especially in the context of the Millenium Development Goals to improve the well being of the poor masses.