Possible
Caring for the Poor in the Remote Mountains of Nepal
Location: Achham District, Nepal
Possible: Grantee in 2015
Possible was founded in 2006 after a Yale medical student traveled to rural Nepal and found himself in the Achham District where 260,000 people lived without a clinician or healthcare infrastructure. After establishing a grassroots health care system there, Possible was invited to enter into a formal contractual partnership with Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population and officially opened Bayalpata Hospital in June 2009.
Since then, Possible has been providing high-quality, low-cost healthcare, free for patients, through a hospital that provides comprehensive services including emergency, inpatient, outpatient, maternal, surgical, pharmaceutical, x-ray, and laboratory (through the only microbiological laboratory in far western Nepal). Since 2008, Possible has treated over 254,000 patients in a region where the average annual household income is less than $341 and patients walk a minimum of 2.5 hours to reach health care. The Achham District has the highest rate of HIV, maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality rate, and migratory labor in Nepal. The maternal mortality rate is the sixth highest globally, on par with Somalia.
In addition, in 2013, Possible renovated and is now managing 13 clinics that provide basic medication and referral services, and that serve as safe birthing centers. Through a network of female community health worker leaders, Possible also provides referral care and monitoring for a population of over 38,405. This healthcare is also delivered through a partnership with Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population, using a model that utilizes Possible’s extensive experience in delivering high-quality, low-cost services.
Project Redwood’s grant was used to transform six additional clinics to primary care facilities by training healthcare providers and by investing in means to transport supplies and in solar capacity to provide electricity.
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GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
2015: $23,050 partially funded transformation of six remote clinics to primary care facilities.
IMPACT
Expand healthcare access to a population of 25,000.