Urban Health Resource Centre

Urban Health Resource Centre [http://www.uhrc.in (UHRC)] is a non-profit Indian organization which aims to address health issues of the urban poor through a consultative and knowledge-sharing approach in partnership with government and civil society.

USAID/India developed a child survival strategy in November 2000 that included, for the first time, an intermediate result to address the health needs of the urban poor. An urban health strategy was developed in June 2001, and USAID/India decided to take forward its commitment towards addressing the health needs of the urban poor in partnership with several stakeholders by initiating an Urban Health Program in India through field support to the Environmental Health Project (EHP), and then through a task order under the EHP. Over the past 3 years, EHP India has successfully established itself as a key player in providing technical assistance to Government of India, various state governments and other local self-governing institutions. The program has been highly successful in developing replicable models for Urban Health Programs and bringing scientific evidence into program development.

After wide consultation, it was also determined that no institution existed, either in India or globally, that was capable to develop and implement such an urban health program. USAID/India hence supported the development of an Indian institution with these capabilities. Hence, in November 2005, the USAID supported Urban Health Program in India, which has been so far implemented as the Environmental Health Project (EHP) ,thus incorporated as a non-profit entity, the Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC). UHRC will henceforth manage the urban health activities through continued USAID support.

Our Vision

"We (UHRC) will address health issues of the urban poor through a consultative and knowledge-sharing approach in partnership with government and civil society. We shall strive to build innovative replicable models and disseminate them to influence similar programs."

Goal and Objectives of UHRC

The goal of UHRC is to learn from city-based demonstration programs and then apply these lessons to influence larger programs such as the Urban Health component of National Rural Health Mission program of the Government of India and similar programs of Non-Government stakeholders through proactive information dissemination and advocacy.

Objectives

* Demonstration city program in diverse cities of different states tested, documented and utilized for learning in government and non-government activities such as RCH II program of GOI.

* Improved Urban Health programming approaches and capacities available at different levels among government and non-government partners

* Enhanced attention on ‘health of the urban poor’ among government and non-government agencies and academic institutions through increased dissemination of urban health information and through advocacy activities.

Strategies

UHRC works in partnership with national, state governments and municipalities, NGOs and CBOs, public and private sector health providers, the corporate sector and communities to contribute towards improved health of children and families living in underserved urban settlements. Strategies include

* Applying scientific methods for situation specific urban health program planning
* Developing and testing effective urban health programming approaches in diverse settings
* Facilitating adaptation and replication of these approaches through development of Tools/Guides
* Capacity Development of urban grassroot institutions to bring about and sustain health improvements
* Utilizing Operations Research for generating evidence on best practices and promoting them for better urban health programs
* Sharing Lessons with stakeholders through study tours, workshops and documents.
* Providing Technical Assistance to Governments, Non-Governmental Institutions and Corporates for developing urban health program strategies
* Promotion of functional partnerships among public sector, civil society, and corporate sector agencies for improving urban health
* Bridging the knowledge gaps on health of the urban poor and program experiences
* Advocacy at different forums to shape policies and set priorities for improving Health of the Urban Poor.

Key Activities

* In Indore, a demand, supply and linkage approach and a multi stakeholder coordination approach have been developed which have resulted in improved health outcomes for about 175,000 slum dwellers.
* Sample urban health proposals for cities of different population sizes facilitated by UHRC provide concrete examples for health service delivery to the urban poor.
* As the nodal technical agency for urban health programming to the Government of India, UHRC provides technical assistance to central and state governments.
* The development and operationalization of public-private partnership approach for improving access to RCH services to the urban poor in the Agra has been facilitated.
* Reports on health of the urban poor for different states of India and a series of eight articles on urban health in 'Indian Pediatrics' have been published.
* Program experiences have been shared at various national and international forums.
* Three operation research studies are being carried out to generate evidence on best practices and promote the same for improving health conditions of the urban poor.