Medical care has been improved considerably in India and in Bangladesh during the last decennia. However, the progress does not reach those people who would need its benefits most urgently: the poor portions of the population. Private doctors and hospitals are out of reach for them and the public basic health service is mostly insufficient or simply not existent. Sickness is consequently a "luxury", which poor people cannot afford. In particular in rural areas, the public health centres are either unsatisfactorily equipped with medicines or even closed due to lack of medical staff. The situation in Bangladesh is similar. Generally, simple infections, diarrhoea or complications during delivery can mean a lethal danger.

Health is one of the most important preconditions for sustainable economic and social development. Andheri-Hilfe supports numerous health programmes in India and in Bangladesh. We do foster activities in various areas, e. g. the promotion of traditional medicine, the cultivation of medical herbs and the training of village midwives. Particular emphasis is placed on health education and preventive measures like the improvement of hygiene. The objective of such measures is to enable the poor portions of the population to take, in the long run, their health problems into their own hands and to solve these problems on a communal as well as on a preventive basis.