This year’s Else Kröner Fresenius Award for Development Cooperation in Medicine goes to project coordinator Dipanwita Sarkar from the Dearah Association for Social and Humanitarian Action (ASHA NGO) for the project “Empowering Communities towards Health Orientation”. The project was nominated by German Doctors e. V. The award ceremony took place at the Auditorium Friedrichstraße in Berlin on October 14, 2025.
Basic medical care in the Sundarbans
The people living in the remote regions of the Sundarbans situated in West Bengal in the east of India are affected by poverty and frequent natural disasters. Many villages are located far from the state health centers and can sometimes only be reached by boat. Award winner Dipanwita Sarkar developed a project together with German Doctors e. V. to improve basic medical care available in the Sundarbans in the long term. The project runs mobile clinics and trains Community Health Volunteers (CHVs). The latter are integrated into their community and make an important contribution to sustainable healthcare.
The mobile clinics travel to the most remote regions, offer comprehensive healthcare – from diagnostics and treatment to physiotherapy – and are supported by an interdisciplinary team. These include local doctors, volunteer doctors from German Doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, and 156 exclusively female Community Health Volunteers (CHVs). The project thus also makes an important contribution to the education and empowerment of women and girls. In addition to the topic of child protection, these priorities are of particular concern to award winner Dipanwita Sarkar.
The project will run from 2021 to 2028. From 2026, responsibility will gradually be handed over to a local team and the project will increasingly be integrated into state structures. The prize money should help to ensure the project can be continued in the long run and its achievements to date are built on.
The press release on the Else Kröner Fresenius Award for Development Cooperation in Medicine 2025 can be found here.
In the interview, award winner Dipanwita Sarkar talks about her work and future plans for the project.
Impressions from the award ceremony on October 14, 2025 at the Auditorium Friedrichstraße in Berlin.
