Healthier mothers, healthier babies.
A maternal health programme for expectant mothers in the tribal communities of the Kalvarayan Hills, from registration through delivery and six months after birth. Shakthi targets anaemia and undernutrition in pregnancy, a serious and avoidable risk to both mother and child, and works entirely through the community's existing health network.
Educate. Partner. Supplement.
Educate
We educate the antenatal mother, and crucially, her whole family and community: fathers, husbands and elders included. Pregnancy is everyone's responsibility, not the mother's alone. Engaging the men of the household is one of the things that most sets Shakthi apart.
Partner
We work alongside the public health system and other organisations, strongly reinforcing the medicines and directions that the community's health services already provide. We strengthen the public system. We never replace it.
Supplement
Protocol-approved traditional supplementation under the Tamil Nadu government's Magaperu Sanjeevi Thittam, a government protocol that we follow, delivered alongside routine antenatal care.
Delivery runs through trained and supported frontline health workers, so behaviour change reaches the grassroots and lasts beyond our direct presence.
Four high-risk categories, recognised by government.
Teen pregnancies
Adolescent pregnancies carry higher risk for both mother and baby.
Nutritional anaemia
Low haemoglobin in pregnancy is the pattern here, not the exception.
Underweight mothers
Poor maternal nutrition shapes a child's future before birth.
High birth orders
Closely-spaced pregnancies leave little time for nutritional recovery.
The mothers Shakthi was built for.
Teenage mothers, women carrying their third or fourth pregnancy, and families with little access to antenatal care, gathering for sessions that reach them where they already are.
Effective, and gentle enough that mothers keep taking them.
Shakthi provides time-tested preparations such as Madhulai Manapagu, Annabedhi Chenduram and Nellikai Legiyam. They reduce morning sickness, improve appetite, and help the body absorb iron.
The government-approved Siddha supplements used in the Shakthi programme help improve haemoglobin while also supporting digestion. Unlike conventional iron tablets, they are generally well tolerated, with fewer complaints of nausea, black stools or an unpleasant taste. Because mothers are more comfortable taking them, they are more likely to continue the treatment and consistent use is key to better outcomes.
What the numbers show.
Measured 2025-26 Baseline to endline results from Kariyalur block, Kalvarayan hills.
Frontline health workers, at the centre of it.
ASHA workers and community health staff carry the programme from door to door, turning each session into a relationship the community keeps coming back to.
Education and advocacy
Structured sessions through pregnancy and after birth, covering nutrition, self-care, anaemia prevention, breastfeeding, newborn care and emotional well-being, with families encouraged to take part. Community awareness on the social drivers of poor maternal health, and school-based education on adolescent health and the prevention of teen pregnancy.
Capacity building
We train and support ASHA workers and frontline health staff to educate mothers, strengthen community awareness, and encourage healthy practices during pregnancy. By building local capacity, the benefits continue long after our programme ends.
₹5,000 supports one mother through a full year.
From registration to six months after her baby arrives.