Lifesaving Interventions: The Power of Local Healthcare Workers on the Global Scale

In 1986, Drs. Abhay and Rani Bang traveled to a remote area in the state of Maharashtra in India to work on reducing child mortality. At the time, they measured 121 infant deaths in every 1,000 children born. Many factors contributed to the high rate of child mortality in the region, but pneumonia and newborn deaths were consistently the top two one causes of death in children. Over the next 15 years, Abhay and Rani Bang created two healthcare interventions to address death by pneumonia in children under 5  and newborn deaths in the region. Both studies utilized the influence of community health workers. Join Dr. Abhay Bang as he discusses the creation of these two interventions, the subsequent creation of a national program in India, and their impact on the global health landscape.