Novartis
Novartis
Providing access to affordable medicine and health education in India.
BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Alumni
SECTOR
Health
HEADQUARTERS
Switzerland
REGION OF INITIATIVE
Asia & Pacific, Africa
SDG CONTRIBUTION
RELATED NEWS
Swiss-based healthcare leader Novartis has joined BCtA with a commitment to further expand their rural healthcare programme in India, which has already reached more than 40 million people.
Recognizing that poverty and poor health are often linked, Novartis has developed the Arogya Parivar (healthy family) programme, which aims to empower communities to make better healthcare decisions and expand access to health education and affordable drugs.
Over six years, Arogya Parivar has helped create more than 500 jobs and has built skills and capacity among hundreds of business partners, suppliers, and customers, including healthcare professionals in India. Its impact translates to providing 42 million people with improved access to healthcare across an estimated 33,000 villages. According to the company, 50,000 doctors and pharmacies have also received medical knowledge transfer.
All products and health information are translated into seven languages. The programme currently focuses on four pillars: awareness, acceptability, availability, and adaptability.
Arogya Parivar and social business are a key part of the Novartis commitment to access to healthcare. The company is pioneering new business approaches to sustainably deliver healthcare to more people, particularly in the developing world. Beyond social business initiatives, Novartis focuses on finding new treatments and eliminating diseases including leprosy and malaria.