Exploring
What if care models were designed for well-being promotion in rural areas?
In the past decades, the concept of health has evolved from disease absence into a more holistic state of well-being. Yet, the systems of care have not kept pace, especially in Tribal communities. On a wide range of social, economic, environmental, and health indicators, the burden of illness continues to grow in Tribal communities compared to other populations, such as inequitable housing systems, lack of high-quality healthcare services, outdated and inaccessible education programs, gender bias and exclusion in the workforce, violent victimization experiences at home and community settings, among others. Together, these and other deficits impede Tribal communities to reach optimal positive well-being outcomes.
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At the core of this systems challenge lies a plethora of behavioral factors, both individual and organizational, influencing the ability of Tribal people to seek, provide, and deliver care. Without a care model that activates multiple stakeholder groups in coordinated arrangements, organizations across sectors influencing the health of the Tribal people will continue to provide point solutions to specific health issues rather than shifting the underlying system's conditions preventing the promotion of positive well-being outcomes in Tribal populations.
Chhattisgarh
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In collaboration with the IIT Institute of Design and the Transform Rural India Foundation.
Together with a multidisciplinary group of graduate-level students at the IIT Institute of Design and the Transform Rural India Foundation, our goal is to explore and conceptually archetype care models that can shift the conditions upon which Tribal people seek, provide, and deliver care and uplift the well-being outcomes of Tribal populations.