Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Works in close collaboration with NGOs, governments, community groups, academic institutions, the private sector, and development organizations to ach Read moreieve the common goal of sustained development in four key areas of health, sanitation, agricultural development and financial services. Its work in health sector focuses on maternal and child health, nutrition, vaccines, immunization, family planning, and controlling certain infectious diseases. It aims to solve the problem of deaths during childbirth, neonatal mortality, infant mortality due to ineffective vaccine, lack of access to contraceptives and undernourishment in women & children. It provides technical assistance and financial support to healthcare institutions, supports the development of efficient and cost-effective vaccines, works to improve accessibility to family planning tools and delivery of vaccines, collaborates with self help groups and communities to provide accurate information about family planning, conducts interventions focusing on maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, micro-nutrient supplementation, food fortification, and treatment of children with severe malnutrition. It also works for developing effective solutions for diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis. In the financial services sector, its work is focused on resolving the issue on exclusion of underprivileged communities from the formal financial system by supporting the development and implementation of digital payment systems. In collaboration with private entities, it also works on development of digital financial products suited to the needs of economically disadvantaged households. Through its sanitation initiative, it aims to solve the problem of open defecation, contaminated drinking water and unsafe disposal of human waste by supporting construction of hygienic toilets and development of localized solutions for safe disposal of human waste. In the agriculture sector, it aims to solve the problem of non-profitability in farming activities which arises due to water shortages, changing climates and fragmented land holdings. It invests in research centered on India's important and staple crops and livestock to improve farmers' access to farming knowledge, tools, and markets. It is also working on development on Common Application Software (CAS) which allows child care workers in government child care centers (Anganwadis) to enter health information of women and children in mobile devices, making it immediately available at a central server and useful for consumption. With the aim of achieving universal immunization, it has worked in collaboration with the government, other NGOs and a software company to develop eVIN (electronic vaccination intelligence network) which is a mobile based application to monitor and replenish the supply of vaccines in health centers. All its activities take place with special focus on the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where it is making major investments to improve basic healthcare, nutrition, sanitation, immunization, family planning and disease control.