'Health is wealth', goes an old proverb. A simple yet profound message.

But most of us are either too busy to look after our health or have little time to dig deeper into our nagging health problems. In India this problem is compounded by poverty and illiteracy of majority of its population who have little access to accurate information.

In particular, women's health within poor communities is very often completely neglected. The World Bank states that in India females experience more episodes of illness than males and are less likely to receive medical treatment before the illness is well advanced.

Most poor women shoulder the responsibility of earning an income, looking after the house and taking care of children. They face heavy work demands, suffer from malnutrition, and pay little attention to their own health problems. All of this has some serious consequences for their health.

As a company operating in the field of health and well-being, Himalaya felt it was important to do something to increase health awareness within the community, particularly amongst marginalized sections.

We swung into action with a high visibility nationwide educational campaign aimed at making accurate information easily accessible to people. The aim of the initiative is to encourage people to take their health seriously, visit the doctor and seek appropriate treatment before it gets too late.

The program focuses on distributing Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) and posters to local doctors, hospitals and health clinics across India. The leaflets contain easily understandable medical information regarding common health conditions like osteoporosis, infertility, kidney stones, and menopause among others. Keeping in mind the lingual diversity in India, the leaflets are made available in English and 13 other regional languages. The program reaches out to both remote rural and urban areas of the country.

The campaign has a special focus on women. As a first step, the program's aim is to get more women talking about their problems, understanding them and then taking action. It attempts to raise awareness of common health concerns experienced by women such as menopause, infertility or bone disorders.

As a result of Himalaya's information drive, many doctors have reported an increase in people enquiring about their health. Patients are eager to seek treatment for their health problems after reading through the information in these leaflets. Women too are coming forward to discuss their health concerns and get treated.

Many health experts have also commented on the wide outreach of the program. Since the information is available in regional languages more people have access to it, allowing them to do some of their own reading before visiting their local doctor.

To increase program effectiveness, we have also taken on the responsibility of distributing free samples of our products to poor patients. This has contributed vastly towards improving health amongst the economically disadvantaged.