The Community Health Protection Programme in Dungarpur, Rajasthan

Dungarpur, located in the southernmost tip of Rajasthan, is one of the least developed districts in the state and India at large. A poor health infrastructure coupled with limited health awareness has resulted in an abysmal health status for the local population.

A Save the Children study from 2010 found that as much as 30 percent of loans taken by poor households are used for health purposes. As parents become ill and are unable to work, medical costs escalate and households adopt various coping strategies that impact children negatively, as well as affect their long-term development opportunities. The most common coping strategy is to take children out of school to be at home and help with domestic chores or to send them into the labour market.

As a response to this trend, Save the Children decided to introduce a community based health protection programme, with the objective of exploring the possibility of social insurance providing an opportunity for mitigating the adverse impact of health stress and shock on children.