NGOSwasti is a global health equity CSO aiming to add 100 million healthy days to the lives of the most marginalized by 2030. Established in 2004, we believe that this can only be achieved through people-centered health systems. Swasti’s scale of operations in the past has covered 25 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, reaching over 2 million people from diverse communities, such as sex workers, migrants, farmers, factory workers, and slum dwellers.
Over the years, as a public health organization, we have come to realize that it is insufficient to focus on interventions related to health without considering planetary health and its impact on the communities. We especially realize the significance of climate change on the vulnerable communities we work with and the multiple, intersecting burdens it causes in terms of loss of health and livelihood. This ranges from increased heat-related illness and mortality to increased spread of vector-borne and water-borne pathogens causing malaria, dengue, cholera, and other diseases, as well as rising food insecurity due to changing crop production patterns. Climate change also creates more disaster-prone areas and humanitarian settings that have serious implications for Swasti’s work in community and public health.
Through membership in the Planetary Health Alliance, we hope to learn from the experiences of other organizations working in the Global South in implementing planetary health interventions for vulnerable communities. This can include technical support and consultations, joint research, advocacy, and capacity building on various planetary health issues.
We remain committed to achieving a vision where climate change is mitigated, and vulnerable communities enjoy good health and well-being despite the major climatic risks they currently face.
Learn
more.