CSR initiatives gained significance during the pandemic for frontline workers, particularly women sanitation workers, healthcare providers, and essential service providers, who require healthcare services, medical supplies, and equipment to ensure their safety and well-being also. It became crucial to prioritize their health and well-being by providing healthcare services, medical supplies, and equipment.
To continue supporting these vulnerable groups and demonstrate its commitment to social responsibility and contribute to building a stronger and healthier community, Himalaya Wellness Company launched an initiative on this International Women's Day to promote health and wellness among the vulnerable 'Women Pourakarmikas' in Bangalore, partnering with Avant Dental Network and NGO partner Right To Live.
In this interview with TheCSRUniverse, Mr KG Umesh, Director - HR Himalaya Wellness Company talks about company's aim to provide necessary support, free medical camps and health awareness programs to diagnose health issues and offer appropriate prescriptions and referrals to beneficiaries. He also shares the company's plan to integrate the programme with governmental organisations in the long term.
Read the full interview to learn more about the company's efforts to provide holistic healthcare support to women frontline workers by expanding its services through collaborative efforts with other social sector stakeholders.
Q: What inspired Himalaya Wellness Company to start this initiative on International Women's Day, and what is the ultimate goal of the program?
A: “Care for Life,” our company philosophy, sits at the heart of Himalaya Wellness Company. It defines the way we think and inspires our actions. Investing in good health goes beyond developing high-quality products. It is a holistic approach, which helps us build a better company and contribute to building a better world.
As part of Care for Life, we want to bring wellness to every family, promote healthy living, and make it simpler to trace, track, and propose treatments for non-communicable and lifestyle diseases. Women's empowerment is a topic of much discussion, and Himalaya Wellness Company aims to improve healthcare access, particularly for a vulnerable group like Women Pourakarmikas (sanitation workers), in accordance with SDG goals of good health and well-being. With this in mind, we considered how best to commemorate the occasion on International Women's Day.
Q: How is the medical camp and health awareness program structured, and what kinds of services are being provided to the women?
A: The main goal of the program is to offer diagnostic services to the Women Pourakarmikas at their premises, whenever it is convenient for them. Together with their general and overall health assessment, we have especially added examinations they would not often undergo, such as a pulmonary function test, gynecological consultation, CBC and thyroid blood test, eye test, and dental examination. A doctor can better comprehend a patient's health status and direct them by conducting on-site blood pressure and glucose testing.
Through gynecological consultations covering subjects like nutrition and maternal health, the program will aid them in understanding and gaining knowledge about their personal and reproductive health.
Q: What kind of medical conditions and issues are being addressed through this initiative, and how are they being treated?
A: Our main goal is to spot hidden lifestyle health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and malnutrition; workplace health issues like pulmonary, dermatological, and joint pain; and age- and gender-related problems like poor vision, anemia, and thyroid disorders, as well as reproductive health problems.
The Pourakarmikas can easily follow up on appropriate and pertinent prescriptions and referrals. For people who need vision correction, free power glasses are offered.
Q: How is Avant Dental Network involved in this initiative, and what kind of services are they providing to the women?
A: As part of their community outreach and public wellness initiative, Avant started this initiative in the year 2021, during COVID, for frontline workers – BBMP Pourakarmikas, with 500 screenings during the first year, followed by 2500 screenings this year.
Q: How is your NGO partner ‘Right To Live’ supporting this initiative, and what role does it play in ensuring its success? Additionally, what other partnerships and collaborations have you formed to support this initiative, and what kind of support are they helping you with?
A: Avant Dental Network for the necessary support has an understanding with ‘Right To Live’, who have helped in providing administrative and on-ground support. Avant has collaborated with a few corporates in the past who believed in their initiative and provided the necessary support.
Q: How were the women selected for the program, and what kind of response have you received from them so far? Please share the scale and impact of your project.
A: Our target beneficiaries—women identified by the BBMP department and encouraged to voluntarily attend the medical camp are primarily in the 30- to 50-year-old age group. Women and the government body have exhibited a very positive mindset toward the medical camp and health program. We were able to screen the 1000 targeted women beneficiaries sooner than we anticipated. The camp's relevance was again reinforced by the recipients' overwhelmingly positive involvement and response.
Q: What metrics are you applying to measure and evaluate the impact of the program? How will the program ensure a long-term engagement of the communities involved?
A: The total number of undiagnosed health issues that emerge during such initiatives enables us to assess the degree of influence we can have. We typically see 15% of beneficiaries who have diabetes or pre-diabetes, 7%–10% who have elevated blood pressure, 35% who require power eyewear, and roughly 55% who have untreated dental issues.
The last stage to ensure the ongoing success of this project will be integrating this program with governmental organizations while retaining the quality of the program and attention to detail. The department can continue with frequent follow-ups at the PHCs for most medical conditions, notably those that are lifestyle-related, with the aid of a proper hand-off of the medical screening data.
Q: What is the company's long-term vision for this initiative, and how does it align with the company's broader CSR goals and values, especially Project Lakshmi?
A: In line with our business philosophy, Care for Health, we are committed to improving health and respecting life in all forms. We have partnered with Sankalp Indian Foundation to make thalassemia treatment accessible to underprivileged children. We provide nutrition food kit for TB patients as a part of the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.
Project Lakshmi empowers rural women financially by creating employment opportunities. This initiative by team Himalaya BabyCare is an ongoing initiative launched countrywide in 2018. Beyond CSR, Project Lakshmi intends to nurture the entrepreneurial mindset of rural women by offering equal opportunities backed by vocational training. The Company has connected with local NGOs and intends to engage more women in profitable income-generating activities by providing them with livelihood opportunities and training on selling more and earning more. Lakshmi is a sincere effort to give women in rural India and their family improved livelihoods and better standards of living.
Considering the challenges in rural areas, Project Lakshmi has had a steady start, with numerous rural women showing a willingness to sign up for the training programs through local NGOs. So far, we have organized over 700 training programs, trained over 2,000 women across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha, and helped over 1,000 women become self-sufficient.
Q: How do you plan to scale up the existing projects specifically aimed at women empowerment?
A: Over the next three years, we plan to expand our reach to 20 states with the help of our NGO collaborators. We aim to further extend our coverage of Lakshmis to 10,000, with a target of achieving 100% self-sufficiency for Lakshmis through income-generation opportunities. We are working on ramping up our training team, introducing reward programs for performers, and strengthening our Lakshmi team by adding Super Lakshmis (supervisors/managers) towards boosting participation and performance.
We remain committed to our vision of making the world a healthier place. Through collaboration with communities and local government bodies, we aim to make a difference in people's lives.
