Dear Friends,
This year, Asha has witnessed some breakthrough developments in education and health, and the chance also to celebrate these with the slum communities with whom we work!
In 2008, just 44 of our children completed their high school final exams. Just three years later I am absolutely delighted to say that 518 of our high school students passed, a phenomenal achievement, especially when one remembers that there was a time when most were not even reaching their last year of primary school.
The most exciting development in health this year has been that our infant mortality rate has been reduced to just 14 per 1000 live births, compared to the national figure of 50 across the whole of India and to 100 when we began our work in 1988. This exemplary figure is a true demonstration of how effectively Asha’s community development model continues to improve the life chances of slum dwellers. Our Asha Health programme has emerged as one of the foremost successful urban health models in the world and has been studied by eminent people in the field of public health.
