During the end of 2005, Prayas set up an advocacy and research unit in Jaipur called Centre for Health Equity. The centre carries out equity related research in health systems and engages in various legislative and executive advocacy. The objectives of the center are to:
The centre has been widely advocating for accountable governance in health care and has been striving to protect people’s health rights, especially those of the poor and the marginalised. Since its inception it has been spearheading community action for health, innovative trainings and workshops, networking, and policy action and research on various issues related to public health. It has been conducting studies on access to free medicines and diagnostics, prescription patterns of medical care providers, out of pocket expenditure on health etc and has been organizing regional and national level programs to forge deliberations and discussions around critical health issues. The centre also documents incidents of violation of health rights and denial of health care services and advocates for systemic and policy reforms to prevent reoccurrence of similar incidents. It has lately been serving as secretariat for campaigns around promotion of rational treatment, access to free medicines and diagnostics, transparency and accountability in public health system, sexual and reproductive health rights etc in the state of Rajasthan. Its thrust areas thus include:
The centre also co-ordinates Jan Swasthya Abhiyan’s (JSA) activities in Rajasthan. JSA is the Indian chapter of global People’s Health Movement (PHM) which is a network of grassroots health activists, civil society organizations and academic institutions advocating for people’s health rights.