Medeon Blogg

Indian organization grows its Swedish collaborations from the Medeon office

MAMTA - Health Institute for Mother and Child (HIMC), a large Indian not for-profitorganization, has an operational space at Medeon Incubator. Devika Mehra and ShantanuSharma work from here to seek new Swedish partners, to support MAMTA’s international collaborations for future funding in India.

Some of MAMTA’s past and present sponsors and partners are companies like Hemocue and H&M India, as well as the Swedish aid organizations such as Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).

– MAMTA's main focus is on youth and adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights, maternal new born health (nutrition), gender-based violence, and Midwifery to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and for improved adolescent health. Some other areas of work are climate change, and energy-efficient solutions for health systems and hospitals, says Devika Mehra, Assistant Director at MAMTA.

It all began in 1990 when the present CEO of MAMTA Dr. Sunil Mehra, a pediatrician by background, founded a small health clinic for pregnant women and children in Tigri, an urban slum in Delhi, India. Over the years, the organization has evolved and broadened its reach to address chronic diseases, such as HIV, TB as well as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Since the last decade, the projects are using more mHealth and technology-based innovations. Today, MAMTA works in three main areas: health, livelihood, and climate change with focus on reaching the marginalized populations. MAMTA currently has a staff of 1,000 people, a budget of around $7 million per year, a presence in 20 India's states and has an experience of providing technical assistance to South Asian and some African countries as well.

– We are one of the largest implementation organizations in India and work closely with public health systems. Most of our projects are implemented in partnership with the health systems for sustainability and wider impact. Everything takes place in accordance with the guidelines of the government of India. We have been working dedicatedly to improve maternal and infant health and nutrition among under privileged communities over the years, says Shantanu Sharma.

What is the role of the Swedish office?

– Medeon is a very good starting point for reaching out to Swedish companies and other organizations to make new partnerships, seek funding, and connect with startups that have technology-based health solutions, that can be useful for our target groups. We also manage some of Mamta's projects from here, says Devika Mehra. Mamta's projects are funded by the Government of India, aid organizations such as Sida (18years of funding came from Sida), Ministry of foreign affairs Finland, academic institutions (Karolinska, Lund University and Dalarna), universities, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UN agencies and companies such as H&M India, HCL, and Philips.

– Some of our ongoing projects in partnership with Swedish agencies include supporting the integration of Midwives into the healthcare systems in Southern Asia, which is funded by the Swedish Research Council, and we are working to strengthen the situation of Midwives in some of the Asian and African countries in a project funded by SIDA. Another current projectis about finding energy-efficient solutions in India which is financed by the Nordic Center for Sustainable Healthcare, says Devika Mehra.

Why Medeon?

– We live in Skåne, and MAMTA fits well into Medeon's profile. There is a lot of experience here that we can draw on, which we have benefited greatly from as we have been Medeon members for more than five years, says Devika Mehra. Devika Mehra has a Msc. in International health management and development, and a PhD in Sexual reproductive health and rights from Lund University. Shantanu Sharma is a Medical Doctor, MD in Community Medicine from India and is currently doing a part time PhD from Lund University.

Webbpage: https://mamtahimc.in