India is a country of great culture, history and economic disparity. It is the seventh largest country by geographical area, and the second most populous country in the world. It has been a socialized, democratic republic since its independence in 1947. Although India's standard of living is projected to rise sharply, it currently battles high levels of poverty, persistent malnutrition, and environmental degradation. Its healcare system is socialized, though the privatization of healthcare has increased significantly in the last few years.
A multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society, Hindi and English, as well as 21 state languages, are the official languages of the country, making communication between states a challenge. India’s major religion, Hinduism, is followed by approximately 81% of the population, with Islam being the second at about 13%. The caste system is still a part of Indian culture, though the government has worked to alleviate its impact on society.
Ambur, a rural village in the state of Tamil Nadu, is where 40 CAFÉ PC's will be sent later in 2007. Ambur is about 68% Muslim, which is unusual in India. It’s main industry is tanning, using mostly sheep and goat hides to manufacture shoes and handbags.
Global Health Ministries, a non-profit organization that assists Lutheran healthcare facilities overseas, will ship the CAFÉ PC's along with medical supplies and equipment to the Bethesda Hospital and School of Nursing, in Ambur. As the CAFÉ coordinator for the Uptown Minneapolis Rotary Club and a representative of Global Health Ministries, Magdeline Aagard was asked to review the needs of the hospital and school of nursing for equipment and supplies.
Bethesda Hospital has one working computer in its medical records department, as well as a few computers for the accounting department. Many of their computers are still DOS based systems. Bethesda School of Nursing is currently a General Nurse Midwife program. This type of program is being phased out by the government and by the year 2010 all programs must be a Bachelor’s prepared curriculum. As part of the new curriculum, the school of nusring is required to teach a computer course. The school does not have computers, and therefore they are currently teaching the class at a technical school in Ambur.
It is CAFÉ's intent to provide late model PC's with appropriate current software to fulfill these needs. Providing computers to Bethesda Hospital and School of Nursing will provide them with the capability of keeping medical records on file, improving their accounting systems, and for the School of Nursing to teach the computer course on their campus. This will allow the nursing school attendees, who reside at their school, to avoid travel for their course work.
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