Introduction

It was the time period after the ‘Emergency’ when the homeless and underprivileged of the society were relocated from central part of Delhi to outskirts of city. This was to take care of the health needs of the poorest of the poor, the government invited hospitals to open primary care units to which St. Stephen’s Hospital in 1981 was one of the few who responded. Thus the Community Health Department of St. Stephen’s Hospital (CHD-SSH) came into existence in  Sunder Nagri resettlement and slum.
It is located about 16 kms away from the main hospital in a slum and resettlement colony in North East Delhi one of the most disadvantaged areas in the national capital. In this area there are pockets where two people cannot walk together in the streets with open sewers.

CHD-SSH believes in the WHO definition of health: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely absence of disease or infirmity”.