The Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization located in Jamkhed, Ahmednagar District in the state of Maharashtra, India. The organization works with rural communities to provide community-based primary healthcare and improve the general standard of living through a variety of community-led development programs, including Women's Self-Help Groups, Farmers' Clubs, Adolescent Programs and Sanitation and Watershed Development Programs. CRHP was founded in 1970 by Drs. Raj and Mabelle Arole, who conceived the organization's model while on a Fulbright Scholarship atJohns Hopkins University. The work of CRHP has been recognized by the WHO and UNICEF, as well as being introduced to 178 countries across the world.

CRHP’s model, known in the development community as the “Jamkhed Model”, is centered around mobilizing and building the capacity of the community, empowering the people to bring about their own improvements in health and poverty-alleviation. The model has three, mutually supportive components:

1. Village Health Workers and Community Groups

The Village Health Worker (VHW), usually illiterate and of low caste, is the key change agent for CRHP’s comprehensive approach to health improvement. Selected by the communities themselves and trained by CRHP, VHWs not only act as health workers and midwives but they also mobilize their communities to achieve better sanitation, hygiene, family planning, and maternal and infant health. When a village agrees to work with CRHP, the whole village comes together to choose a woman to be trained as their VHW. VHWs initially receive extensive training on CRHP’s campus. Over half of the training time is dedicated to personal development in order to build self-esteem, confidence, and skills necessary for community organization and effective communication. The rest of the training is spent developing clinical knowledge and skills that equip the women to function as primary health care workers. The VHWs come together weekly for CRHP-based training to review skills, share stories, and update statistics.

VHWs provide basic preventive healthcare and knowledge to their villages and help organize and facilitate Women’s Groups and the Adolescent Girls Programs. VHWs also provide a great deal of care to pregnant women and new mothers. They educate women on nutrition during pregnancy and proper breastfeeding practices. In addition, they examine the pregnant women and monitor the progress of the fetus. VHWs are fully equipped to perform home deliveries and will also accompany women to a hospital delivery if they chose to do so or it is medically necessary.

2. Mobile Health Team

The Mobile Heath Team (MHT) found its beginnings in the outreach efforts of founders, Mabelle and Raj Arole, and today serves as the bridge between the community and CRHP’s on-campus medical and development staff. Historically, villagers have had neither the time, nor the resources to travel all the way to the hospital in Jamkhed for care, and as a result, healthcare was brought to them. In order to build trust and confidence, the original outreach team provided curative services via weekly clinics in the villages, and as rapport was built, the original team developed into the MHT. Today the team possesses a broad array of capacities including health promotion, preventive health services, social work, development projects, and community organization.

The Mobile Health Team consists of a driver, social workers, a paramedic, and on certain occasions, a physician. However, these distinctions tend to be in name only, and all team members are trained as fully as possible in all jobs and tasks. All team members address patients’ clinical and social questions, and are considered equals with each member given respect and importance. The