20+ years of building public health capacity, one partnership at a time.
Avni Health Foundation is a not-for-profit working across India and beyond to strengthen maternal & child health, capacity building, public health education, and health systems. Since 2004, we've partnered with governments and communities to build the capacities that make lasting change possible.
Our Vision
To be recognized as a pioneer in Public Health, respected by communities, valued by policymakers & the scientific community, and sought after as a partner in progress.
Our Mission
Since 2004, we have worked alongside socially disadvantaged and vulnerable communities across India and beyond, through research, training, and health-systems design, to make public health work better for those who need it most.
We believe lasting change comes not from short-term interventions, but from equipping people and systems to sustain progress long after a program ends.
Impact in numbers
- 15,000+ OBGYNs & health workers reached — AMPLI-PPHI
- 5M+ pregnant women served through the EmOC program
- 3,500+ schools engaged via Dheera — Violence Against Women
- 29,000 PPIUCDs inserted across 6 centres, 4 states
- 21 states and 2 countries of on-ground reach
- 9,000 maternal deaths reviewed via our MDR software
Announcements
About Us
Our Team
Avni is led by a small resident team of program managers, trainers, researchers, and finance & administration officers who drive implementation, M&E, and partner coordination across every active project. This core team is backed by a wide bench of national and international advisors and domain specialists brought on as needed, based on each project's objectives.
Mentors, Thought Partners, Advisors
- Prof. Dr. C. N. Purandare, President Emeritus FIGO, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
- Sir Prof. S. Arulkumaran, President Emeritus FIGO, RCOG
- Dr. T. Sequeira, Public Health, HIV/AIDS
- Prof. Dr. Shantha Kumari, Past FOGSI President, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
- Dr. Sadhana Desai, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
- Dr. Prakash Bhatt, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
- Prof. Dr. P. Shivkumar, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
- Prof. Dr. R. Prabhu, Hon. Associate Professor of Oral Medicine, University of Queensland, School of Dentistry, Brisbane
- Dr. S. Bhardwaj, Gates Foundation, Public Health, Health Behavior, HIV/AIDS
- Mr. Vijay Verma, Film, Theatre, TV Serials
- Mr. A. K. Bahadur, Director
- Mr. Ajey Bhardwaj, Founder, Director
Setup
Organogram: Avni Health Foundation. Board of Advisors (Guidance & Direction). Administrative (Day-to-Day Operations): Finance & Administration; HR & Operations Management. Technical (Core Technical Domains): the eight service areas listed under Our Services.
Avni Health Foundation, 2nd floor, Amarsons Bhavan, 68, Misquitta Road, Vile Parle (East), Mumbai, 400057, India. Registered Not-for-Profit, Section 8, since 2004.
Our Activities
A look at recent work on the ground, and where we have made measurable impact.
Programs: Pipeline, Ongoing & Completed
“Leadership in Public Health Management” Certificate/Diploma Program for Africa
Pipeline, Ongoing discussions. Africa / Nigeria
Partners: AHF · Leading Nigerian University
Goal / objectives: Design, develop and launch a certificate program to build capacities of individuals wanting careers in public health. Engage high-level policymakers to make this a course of choice for on-the-job systems-strengthening training.
Output / outcome: Output / outcome to be added as the program launches.
AMPLI-PPHI — Accelerating Measurable Progress and Leveraging Investments for PPH Impact
Ongoing, 2022–2026. India · DR Congo · Guinea · Kenya · Nigeria · Zambia
Partners: AHF · FIGO · FOGSI · JHPIEGO · PATH
Goal / objectives: Accelerate adoption and scale-up of new treatments for Post-Partum Haemorrhage — Heat Stable Carbetocin for prevention, Tranexamic Acid for treatment, and Misoprostol for community births.
Output / outcome: 15,000+ OBGYNs/nursing staff/students reached across 110+ trainings; country hub meetings with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka; launched LRP, job aids, online curriculum and the book “Labour & Beyond — What is New?”
Leadership Development Initiative — removing barriers to effective access and coverage of maternal healthcare
Completed, 2022–2025. India · Bangladesh · Ethiopia · Kenya · Nigeria · Pakistan
Partners: AHF · FIGO · FOGSI
Goal / objectives: Strengthen leadership skills, increase adoption of maternal and newborn interventions, address barriers, and build a gender-transformative approach to champion women in leadership.
Output / outcome: 4 implementation sites; 50 champions identified and oriented; curriculum designed and delivered in 71 trainings to 6,690 OGs/nursing staff/PGs; 5,479 deliveries attended; 344 PPH and 1,246 anaemia cases managed.
Maternal Near Miss (MNM)
Completed, 2021. Bangladesh
Partners: AHF · OGSB · UNFPA · UNICEF
Goal / objectives: Member of the Think Tank; contributed to design and development of the policy framework for Maternal Near Miss.
Output / outcome: Added critical pointers to the national policy documents.
Dheera — Violence Against Women (VAW)
Completed, 2021–2022. India
Partners: AHF · FOGSI · UNICEF · Government of India
Goal / objectives: Reach students (9th–12th grade), teachers, parents and ObGyns on VAW; build capacity and operationalize implementation, and maintain VAW reporting software.
Output / outcome: Reached 3,500+ schools; trained and oriented 500,000 students, 20,000 teachers and 36,000 ObGyns.
Respectful Abortion Care (RAC)
Completed, 2021–2022. India
Partners: AHF · FOGSI · WHO · Government of India
Goal / objectives: Build capacity of healthcare providers, and design and develop reporting tools to scale up the recent Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Output / outcome: Built capacities of 36,000 ObGyns across India.
Electronic Supportive Supervision software
Completed, 2019. India · All States
Partners: AHF · NHSRC · Government of India
Goal / objectives: Design and develop a robust system that records, retrieves and provides time-bound solutions across 660+ districts, cities and facilities.
Output / outcome: Objectives met successfully at national scale.
Hyperglycemia in Pregnancy (HIP)
Completed, 2018–2021. India · 4 States
Partners: World Diabetes Foundation · AHF · FIGO · FOGSI · Government of India · State Govts · Medical colleges
Goal / objectives: Influence policy and guidelines; build capacity; design, develop and maintain HIP software and reporting for planning action.
Output / outcome: 8 HIP centres set up across 4 states; 900 doctors trained; 70,000 pregnant women served; ~5,000 HIP cases treated and followed up.
Menopausal Women in India
Completed, 2017–2019. India · 1 State
Partners: Indian Menopause Society · AHF · Government of India · State · Rural Hospital
Goal / objectives: Use data to influence national policy on identifying and managing menopausal health; build provider capacity and reporting tools.
Output / outcome: 40 master trainers and 160 field-level implementors trained.
Maternal Death Review Software
Completed, 2008–2017. India · 12 States
Partners: AHF · Government of India · State Govts · UNICEF · Medical colleges
Goal / objectives: Design, develop, deploy and maintain National MDR software on the Government of India NIC portal; build user capacity.
Output / outcome: 2,500 doctors and data-entry operators trained; 9,000 avoidable maternal deaths captured, each yielding 250 data points for action planning.
FIGO LOGIC Initiative in Maternal and Newborn Health
Completed, 2009–2013. India · 1 State
Partners: FIGO · FOGSI · Government of India · State Govts · Medical colleges · AHF
Goal / objectives: Strengthen national ObGyn professional associations across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to improve maternal and newborn health policy and practice.
Output / outcome: Operationalized Maternal Death Review; reviewed EmOC curriculum; designed the national Maternal Near Miss policy shared with Government of India.
Post-partum IUCD Insertion (PPIUCD)
Completed, 2014–2018. India · 6 sites across 4 States
Partners: FIGO · FOGSI · Government of India · AHF · Medical colleges
Goal / objectives: Train teams in PPIUCD and lead insertion of IUDs for women desiring family planning options.
Output / outcome: 6 centres set up; 1,136 providers trained; 261,000 women counselled; 139,000 deliveries attended; 29,000 PPIUCDs inserted.
Emergency Maternal & Obstetric Care (EmOC) capacity building
Completed, 2005–2017. India · 21 States
Partners: FOGSI · Government of India · State Govts · Medical colleges · District Hospitals · AHF
Goal / objectives: Build capacity of General Practitioners and non-specialist Medical Officers to deliver high-quality emergency obstetric care in underserved rural areas.
Output / outcome: 34 training centres and 200 district sites across 21 states; 235 master trainers, 403 district trainers, 1,700 medical officers trained; service delivery to 5M+ pregnant women.
E-Cell for Monitoring & Evaluation of EmOC
Completed, 2005–2017. India · 21 States
Partners: FOGSI · Medical colleges · District Hospitals · AHF
Goal / objectives: Design and develop M&E software for the EmOC program.
Output / outcome: Built capacity of the software's users across all 21 participating states.