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Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala’s Swades Foundation completes 20,000 free cataract surgeries

By TheCSRUniverse Team Published 12 Jul 2023

Mumbai, July 11, 2023. Swades Foundation, founded by Ronnie and Zarina Screwavala crossed a new milestone of successfully completing 20,000 life-changing free cataract surgeries. With the aim to restore vision and transform lives, Swades Foundation has been dedicated to making a positive impact, one surgery at a time.

The foundation's approach involves creating and empowering a strong network of community health workers known as 'SwadesMitras.' These individuals serve as crucial intermediaries between the community and various public and private healthcare facilities, offering primary healthcare aid to villagers. The foundation collaborates with government agencies, frontline health personnel, and corporates to ensure last-mile delivery of essential healthcare and nutrition services.

Currently, 2022 highly trained SwadesMitras are serving a population of approximately 3,71,000 individuals in India. The foundation has screened 3,26,045 people and provided free spectacles to 1,07,462 individuals in need.

Since its establishment in 2013, Swades has reached out to 2,700 hamlets and villages across Raigad and Nashik districts in Maharashtra. Their holistic development model, based on the '4E' strategy of engaging, empowering, executing, and exiting, encompasses all aspects of individual and community growth.

Today, the foundation's work is benefiting over 7,50,000 individuals, with a strong grassroots team. Their unwavering belief is that India's true growth story can only be realized by empowering the rural sector to make choices and transform their lives. The foundation aspires to scale this model nationwide and potentially, globally.