The Barefoot College health care section since 1973 has aimed to provide basic health services to more than 150 villages in five development blocks of Rajasthan, through a team of Barefoot doctors, health workers, midwives, pathologists and dentists with little or no educational backgrounds.
The College has demystified medical technologies and decentralised its uses to equip the grassroot levels with basic health facilities. Through a network of the Barefoot health team, Barefoot communicators and teachers, the Barefoot College has created health awareness among rural men, women and children on issues such as hygiene, food and nutrition, mother and child care, immunization, oral health, family planning, HIV/ AIDS, midwifery, common ailments etc.
The College has been training men and women from the villages so that rural communities are less dependent on external aid. Their involvement in the planning, implementation and supervision of all programmes have not only generated employment within rural communities but also reduced migration.