TEDxNagpur - Dr. Abhay Bang - ShodhGram

Dr. Bang is founder-director of SEARCH, an NGO that provides community health care to the tribes of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. He does not look like a pioneer. But don't let the looks fool you -- this is the man who has revolutionised healthcare for the poorest people in India and who has overseen a programme that has sent infant mortality rates plummeting in one of the most poverty-stricken areas of the world.

Instead of accepting the traditional hospital-based treatment model, Dr Bang has spent the last 26 years training up local volunteers in Gadchiroli, one of the most deprived districts in the Indian state of Maharashtra, to treat simple maladies at home. The World Health Organisation and Unicef have recently endorsed his approach to treating newborn babies and the programme is currently being rolled out to parts of Africa.

Watch as Dr. Abhay Bang,describes the importance of community health workers in reducing neonatal mortality in developing countries across the world.

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