Putting an exact figure to the number of babies born every minute is difficult. But, it’s safe to say that at any given point in time, there are dozens of women across India in labor. And yet, the quality of maternity care available is questionable.
While the poor lack access to medical care when intervention is critical, private hospitals often push the privileged into caesareans and induced labor. The Aastrika foundation recognizes these extremes and seeks to help every woman receive the right maternity care and medical attention at the right time
What Is The Aastrika Foundation, Bangalore?
The Aastrika foundation is an initiative for maternity healthcare by Nilekani Philanthropies. They aim to increase awareness in the maternal health sector, raise standards and empower women to make informed decisions. Their efforts are directed in three directions.
Aastrika Foundation – Contact Details
- Address: 147/J, Ground Floor, 10th Cross, 12th Main Rd, 3rd Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru – 560034
- Website: https://www.aastrika.org/
- Contact number: Ms Manasa Bharadwaj – + 91 80 4146 4004
Aastrika Foundation Bangalore – A Center Of Excellence
The Aastrika foundation is building a center in Bangalore where women can receive the highest quality maternal care that prioritizes their needs while adhering to ethical, evidence-based clinical guidelines and practices.
Here, women can be cared for before, during and after delivery. They can get consultations on birth plans, prenatal and postnatal care, pediatric care, etc. It also has sensory birthing suites to ease natural delivery.
A Collaborative Digital Platform
the foundation is also working on a digital platform that addresses societal challenges and gives women a chance to access reliable information regarding maternal care. This is aimed at supporting the development of maternal healthcare workers and, in turn, improving maternal health outcomes.
Advocacy
The third direction Aastrika works towards is making women aware of their basic human rights as applicable in childbirth and sharing knowledge related to maternal care in India. By doing this, they hope to inspire change across the country and urge people to question unethical practices.
Aastrika Foundation And Midwifery
Aastrika foundation believes that midwifery could be the key to receiving the right maternal care that is neither too much, too soon nor ‘too little, too late.
Midwives are skilled healthcare professionals who are trained to care for childbearing women and their infants in the prenatal, intrapartum, and post-natal stages.
They are specialists who can care for women during natural labor and lower the likelihood of requiring an instrumental delivery or other forms of medical intervention unless necessary. Aastrika supports the establishment of midwifery by:
- Proving tools for online learning via Aastrika Sphere
- Curating and developing midwifery-specific learning resources that can be made freely available to midwives and nurses
- Promoting a midwifery-led maternal care model at the Aastrika Midwifery Centre at Vasavi Hospital.
- Advocating for the development of Nurse Practitioners in Midwifery
- Build awareness and work on making midwifery accepted in society
- Establishing scholarships and fellowships for midwifery students
- Partnering with nursing colleges to educate Nurse Practitioners in Midwifery