Ours is a community- led story.
Powered by our unique Community Health Entrepreneurs.
Ours is a community- led story.
Powered by our unique Community Health Entrepreneurs.
Who is a CHE?
Community Health Entrepreneurs (CHEs) are rural women from resource-poor communities who are selected, trained, and supported to become health catalysts in their villages. They are a unique initiative by HFF, envisioned as an evolving, well-trained team of rural health change agents. Today, CHEs are successfully transforming healthcare across 8,000+ villages.
What do they do?
Rural women from resource-poor communities are selected, trained, and supported to become health change agents in their villages. They lead health education in their own communities, drive positive changes in health behaviors, and serve as the first point of contact for first aid and non-emergency health services in remote areas.
Our trained Community Health Entrepreneurs facilitate access to government entitlements through a digital application, sell essential health and hygiene products for a marginal profit, and collect data using digital tools. As telehealth facilitators, they support a continuum of care—conducting screenings, identifying health concerns, connecting patients with remote doctors via telehealth platforms, and ensuring adherence to medical advice through follow-ups.
Our School Health Education program trains adolescent girls and boys in resource-scarce government and private schools to become peer educators. The program focuses on adolescent health, hygiene, nutrition, menstrual hygiene, reproductive health, addiction awareness, and domestic violence, fostering a holistic understanding of health and well-being.
We begin by understanding the rural health landscape, then design targeted interventions. We empower communities with forward-thinking phygital solutions—blending physical outreach with digital tools—and align our efforts with existing governance mechanisms. All of this is implemented in a modular manner within the framework of our Continuum of Care model.
He’s the founding Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). He has also been the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Depository Services Limited. He currently chairs Equitas Holdings Private Limited and Srinidhi. AIG and Max New York Life are among the companies for which he’s been a board member.
Mukti Bosco, co-founder of Healing Fields, has utilized her deep understanding of rural communities and their needs to pioneer a series of community-driven innovations in health and women's empowerment. Mukti's twenty-year journey in developing community health and empowerment began with one of the first micro-insurance programs in India and has expanded to include education, health services and livelihood development. Today, Mukti leads a preventative health education program that reaches over 9 million families in India. She is now working to enable women's agency to amplify the ability to access and hold health systems accountable for 300 million people in India by 2030. In 2022, Mukti was awarded the Roux Prize by the IHME for using data to empower women and improve access to rural healthcare in India.
Uttam Patel is a Chartered Accountant and a partner at Patel Mohan Ramesh & Co. An experienced financial consultant, he provides end-to-end local tax solutions (VAT and Income Tax) at Hyderabad. He has a rich experience with financial consulting and Investment banking. He specializes in structuring the financials of a company.
Nimish Parekh is a healthcare entrepreneur and launched the first Third Party Administrator in India by Sedgwick Parekh Health Management in 1996. He is the co-founder, and besides, he is also a member of the Advisory Board on Voluntary Health Insurance at the World Bank and has served on different committees within IRDA, CII, etc.
Sujatha Rao is a former Union Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In her career span of 36 years, she has worked in the health sector for nearly two decades. She represented India on the Board of the Global Fund, a member of the Global Advisory Panel.
Babu Jospeh has been the Executive Trustee and CEO of Axis Bank Foundation. A postgraduate in Agriculture specialising in Horticulture, he is also a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. He has over 35 years of experience in the Banking Industry with a special focus on the rural sector and micro enterprises.
Siva is a Chartered Accountant and is involved in our financial management, budgeting, approving of financial policies and statutory compliance.
Abhishek Poddar is the Managing Director of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (India) Pvt. Ltd, and was a partner in A.T Kearney’s Gurgaon office with 15+ years of consulting experience. He has broad expertise in strategy, business transformation, operational performance enhancement, and organizational restructuring. He has deep industry experience in the power, oil and gas, metal and mining, and infrastructure sectors. He’s been an advisor in companies and business conglomerates across the Asia Pacific region.
Sanjay Jesrani is the Founder and CEO of Go North Ventures, a proprietary angel investment firm focused on investing and mentoring Startups. As a member of the Indian Angel Network, Sanjay has invested in startups across the Healthcare, Deeptech, Unmanned Aerial, Sustainability, Impact, Consumer and Fintech sectors.
Mukti Bosco, co-founder of Healing Fields, has utilized her deep understanding of rural communities and their needs to pioneer a series of community-driven innovations in health and women's empowerment. Mukti's twenty-year journey in developing community health and empowerment began with one of the first micro-insurance programs in India and has expanded to include education, health services and livelihood development. Today, Mukti leads a preventative health education program that reaches over 9 million families in India. She now works to enable women's agency to amplify the ability to access and hold health systems accountable for 300 million people in India by 2030. In 2022, Mukti was awarded the Roux Prize by the IHME for using data to empower women and improve access to rural healthcare in India.
Gayathri Prashanth has led at the intersection of public health and women’s empowerment for over 20 years. She is the COO of Healing Fields Foundation, leading program design, implementation and research. At Healing Fields, she has grown the Community Health Entrepreneur Program to reach over 10 million people in India and Indonesia. She is now working to enable CHEs as telehealth facilitators to bring access to healthcare to India’s rural villages. She sits on the research panel for the Rapid Rural Community Response Coalition (RCRC) and has previously contributed to an international working group on developing financial and social indicators for microinsurance.
He has an MBA and over 15 years of experience in banking and financial consulting. He has worked in banking institutions like HDFC Bank, International Commercial Bank and Development Credit Bank (DCB) in retail, corporate, rural/agriculture banking and financial inclusion. He has also worked extensively in rolling out the banks' microfinance and financial inclusion strategy. At Healing Fields Foundation, he is responsible for the operations and is engaged in the effective scale-up of the community health education programme multiplied with several initiatives with different stakeholders.
Maya holds a degree in Mathematics and Political Economy from Tulane University, where she was honored with the Murphy Institute Public Service Award for her dedication to environmental justice in Louisiana. Recognized as an outstanding alumnus for her commitment to "Maximizing Service," Maya has a background in rural development, particularly in projects focused on the environment and women's empowerment.
At Healing Fields, Maya spearheads the development and implementation of a digital ecosystem, laying the groundwork for a community-owned, data-driven platform. She anchors Monitoring and Evaluation and Communications and contributes to Organizational Development.
Tafsirul holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Jamia Millia Islamia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Aligarh Muslim University, with additional international training in monitoring and evaluation. He brings over two decades of experience in public health and has led large multi-state initiatives spanning family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, immunization, tuberculosis elimination, and education-linked health programs across India.
At Healing Fields, Tafsir leads Partnerships and New Programs, driving the design and implementation of new initiatives and strategic collaborations with government and non-government stakeholders. He provides technical and operational oversight to field teams, supporting program quality, efficiency, and scale.
Jansi is Telehealth Lead at Healing Fields Foundation. She has a postgraduate in nursing, hospital administration and Product Management. She has 13 years of experience in Hospital Administration, accreditation and healthcare technology and product development and also monitors implementation aspects.
At Healing Fields, she formulates clinical protocols as evidence-based guidelines, training, technology implementation at the field level and measuring the program's impact.
Ashwini Kanade is Research Lead at Healing Fields Foundation. She is a Ph.D. scholar, Public Health Nutrition expert, Registered Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator with over 20 years of work experience. Her expertise is in behavior change - lifestyle management in Non-Communicable Diseases.
Pradeep graduated with a Masters in Social Science from Varanasi in 2007. He has a total work experience of 10 years. He has valuable work experience from the Steel Authority of India Limited-CSR, Society for Educational and Economic Development (SEED).
Reju has been working in the social development sector for over a decade. With a Master’s Degree in Development from Azim Premji University and a Master's in Social Work from Utkal University, he specializes in learning measurement, monitoring, and evaluation. At HFF, he contributes to the planning, implementation, and review of M&E tasks, working closely with teams to ensure program effectiveness. Driven by a passion for creating a world where justice and inclusivity thrive, Reju plays a crucial role in data collection, analysis, and reporting processes, leveraging his expertise to ensure the accuracy and reliability of M&E findings.
Shreeti studied Psychology Honours at Ambedkar University, Delhi. She has previously created content for various online platforms. Her passion lies in merging behavioural psychology with a commitment to gender inclusivity and crafting empathetic narratives that empower women. At Healing Fields she has been involved in building the organization's communication, fundraising, and social media strategies.