Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are essential to good health. But for India’s urban poorest, a lack of both these can leave communities very vulnerable, with a high prevalence of water-borne and insect-borne diseases in the more crowded spaces. Poverty and lack of access to good healthcare have also led to many nutritional deficiencies among adults and children alike. 

​

Many conditions are preventable, some are treatable. However, people have to choose between an under-resourced government health service, and private healthcare that can be dangerously unregulated or too expensive. 

​

The economic consequences of illness, particularly unpredictable illnesses or “health shocks”, can have a devastating impact on families that pay out-of-pocket. For so many, it only takes one unexpected medical bill to push them into poverty and debt. Annually, 60 million Indians go below the poverty line due to a health shock.