The past decade has seen increasing awareness regarding the health needs of women and children in our society. Modernization and access to quality health facilities are increasingly being made available to women and children, even those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Affordability is still a daunting barrier to access quality healthcare. Many families, particularly those with modest incomes, find it a challenge to finance their health care costs. With this being the state of addressing pressing health needs, preventive healthcare is left in the lurch. Cognizant Foundation, in 2015-16, under one of its key focus areas in healthcare - 'Women and Child Health', has specifically supported projects that make available preventive healthcare services to underprivileged women and children. The projects supported are:

• Echo machine and Paediatric Ventilator for Paediatric Cardiac Screening Program in suburbs of Chennai in partnership with Aishwarya Trust, Chennai.
• Scanning machine and Ambulance for providing diagnostic prenatal and gynaecological services to women in Bellary, Karnataka in partnership with the Family Planning Association of India, Bellary Branch.
• Mobile Cancer Screening Unit in rural areas of Karnataka and adjoining Tamil Nadu in partnership with Shri Sankara Cancer Foundation, Bangalore.
• Critical equipment for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Matri Bhavan Hospital, Kolkata in partnership with Ramakrishna Sharada Mission, Dakshineswar, Kolkata.

Beneficiary Story :

Vinayakam and Vijayalakshmi had longed for a child for 9 years and had to endure the cruel taunts of people in the community for being childless. After a painstaking long wait, they were eventually blessed with a beautiful girl baby at the Government Corporation Hospital in Chennai. Their joy was short-lived when the baby was identified to have cardiac trouble in the free Paediatric Cardiac Screening Program conducted by Aishwarya Trust. Thanks to the early screening and timely diagnosis of the heart defect using the equipment donated by Cognizant Foundation, the baby was rushed to emergency surgery and snatched from the jaws of death! Vinayakam and Vijayalakshmi are now the proud parents of Aishwarya, who has been named after the Trust that saved her life.