Inspired by Amma’s vision to serve and empower rural communities to be sustainable and resilient, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Amrita Hospitals in collaboration with the SEED Division of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India and UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development, is pleased to announce the launch of its Amrita Village Health Champions ToT (Training of Trainers) program from September 16-25, 2023. The objective of this program is to train healthcare volunteers from villages across India to become community health champions.
This ToT program, supported by the DST, Govt. Of India, is part of a larger project called Covid community resilience and resource centre (CCRRC) Village Project, in which Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is mandated as the implementation agency to improve resilience of villagers in 13 states across India.
The training program will be a 10-day certification program wherein 36 villagers from 18 villages from 15 states across India have come to Amrita Community Medical Center in Njarakkal, Kochi, Kerala. The training will be conducted by doctors from the Community Medicine and Infectious Diseases departments at Amrita Hospitals, Kochi as well as faculty from the Amrita School for Sustainable Futures. 16 doctors from various specialties will be handling multiple training sessions.
The training program will cover a wide range of topics, including:
Upon completion of the training program, the volunteers will be certified as community health champions. They will then be able to return to their villages and share their knowledge and skills with their fellow villagers, and help villagers to become more health aware and take informed decisions regarding their healthcare access and rights.
This is held as part of Amrita’s Live-in-Labs® program in which sustainable initiatives are being conducted in more than 500 communities across India, with focus in the areas of health, disasater resilience, education, sanitation, livelihood, skill, agriculture and water.
This is a valuable initiative that will help to improve the health and well-being of people in rural communities thereby helping in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals of Health and Well Being (SDG 3).
The inauguration of the Village Health Champions program was held at 11 a.m. on 16 Sep 2023 at the Amrita Community Health Center at Njarakkal, Kochi in the presence of Brahmachari Jeyadamrita Chaithanya, Dr. Beena, Additional Medical Superintendent at Amrita Hospital, Dr. Aswathy (Dept. of Community Medicine), Dr. Dipu (Dept. of Infectious Diseases), Dr. Ravi Sankar (Amrita School of Sustainable Futures), and Smt. Mini Raju Panchayat President, Njarakkal Panchayath.
