Independent project is finding individual solutions to improve the lives of patients in rural India.
Many people are aware of the rise of diabetes globally, as well as its increasing burden in terms of health complications and fatalities in South Asian countries. Hence, public health education plays a critical role in the prevention and management of the disease worldwide. However, the actions of the community-based programs that aim to alleviate these problems do not always get the attention they deserve in the news and on social media. This is a story of a low-cost screening and education program in Gujarat, India, that uses health workers (sevaks) to identify people at-risk of diabetes among other diseases, and provide evidence-based education and routine check-ups to work toward alleviating the rural health care disparity in India. My involvement with the Sevak Project over the last several years has included both observation and service work in villages across Gujarat, with the aim to see how these low-cost strategies are improving the health and livelihood of many individuals.

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