AddressHealth, India’s first paediatric primary healthcare network, has won the prestigious ‘Stars in Global Health’ grant competition from Grand Challenges Canada. The company bagged the honours for its innovative model to provide comprehensive healthcare to children in low income groups through tele-enabled school health centres.

The award includes a grant of $112,000 CAD and the company could further qualify for a matching grant of  $1 million under Grand Challenges Canada’s Transition to Scale Programme. This year, out of more than 600 entries worldwide, 85 organisations have won a grant. AddressHealth is one amongst only ten Indian innovators who have won the grant this year.

The innovation grant will be used to set up and manage medical rooms in four Bangalore-based unaided private schools which serve low income groups. A televideo link will be enabled to connect the medical rooms with Address Health’s child health clinics. In addition to this, the medical rooms will be managed by school nurse, supported by medical professionals like doctors, dentists, nutritionists, psychologists and optometrists. These professionals will periodically visit the schools.

Through these planned and on-call visits the children of the school will be provided comprehensive preventive healthcare that includes first aid / first-contact medical care, health screening, preventive dentistry, vision care, psychosocial guidance, health education and nutrition-based services. Electronic health records will track the progress of each child’s health. Schools will be charged a nominal fee on a per-child basis to make the model sustainable.

Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. It supports innovators in low & middle-income countries and in Canada. Grand Challenges Canada focusses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health programme.

On receiving the grant Dr. Anand Lakshman, chief executive officer, of AddressHealth said, “preventive healthcare for children in India is in its nascent stage and needs immediate attention. We believe that schools are a great platform to address this need, and help foster a culture of healthy living among children. We have been striving to achieve the same and this grant will help enhance our efforts and improve the outcomes”.

For building this innovative service model for child health in Bengaluru, AddressHealth has also received pre-series ‘A’ investment from Unitus Seed Fund, India’s most active seed-stage impact investor. It currently operates three clinics that provide one-stop-shop paediatric primary healthcare services in covering 35,000 children.

Urban India accounts for 40 per cent of undernourished children. Of these 15 per cent are overweight; 20 per cent have vision issues, half of which go uncorrected. More over one in 8 children have psychosocial issues, while 50 per cent have dental caries. “This is where we offer primary and first-contact medical care, dental treatment, vision services, health education, nutrition, psychosocial health and chronic disease interventions through our chain of integrated clinics and comprehensive school programmes. The objective is to reaching one million children in low-income schools by 2019,” he added.














AddressHealth, paediatric primary healthcare network, prestigious ‘Stars, Global Health’, grant competition , Grand Challenges Canada,  school health centres, medical rooms, Bangalore-based unaided private schools which serve low income groups. A televideo link  medical professionals,  doctors, dentists, nutritionists, psychologists and optometrists.

Through these planned and on-call visits the children of the school will be provided comprehensive preventive healthcare that includes first aid / first-contact medical care, health screening, preventive dentistry, vision care, psychosocial guidance, health education and nutrition-based services. Electronic health records will track the progress of each child’s health. Schools will be charged a nominal fee on a per-child basis to make the model sustainable.

Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. It supports innovators in low & middle-income countries and in Canada. Grand Challenges Canada focusses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health programme.

On receiving the grant Dr. Anand Lakshman, chief executive officer, of AddressHealth said, “ preventive healthcare for children in India is in its nascent stage and needs immediate attention. We believe that schools are a great platform to address this need, and help foster a culture of healthy living among children. We have been striving to achieve the same and this grant will help enhance our efforts and improve the outcomes”.

For building this innovative service model for child health in Bangalore, AddressHealth has also received pre-series ‘A’ investment from Unitus Seed Fund, India’s most active seed-stage impact investor. It currently operates three clinics that provide one-stop-shop paediatric primary healthcare services in covering 35,000 children.

Urban India accounts for 40 per cent of undernourished children. Of these 15 per cent are overweight; 20 per cent have vision issues, half of which go uncorrected. More over one in 8 children have psychosocial issues, while 50 per cent have dental caries. “This is where we offer primary and first-contact medical care, dental treatment, vision services, health education, nutrition, psychosocial health and chronic disease interventions through our  chain of integrated clinics and comprehensive school programs. The objective is to reaching one million children in low-income schools by 2019”, he added