As a high school freshman in 2024, Ali Abidi’s inspiration for SEHAT began with a simple but powerful realization about healthcare access.

During visits to a few developing countries, Ali saw firsthand how many families struggled to obtain basic medical care due to limited resources and infrastructure. At the time, he assumed that such barriers to healthcare were primarily challenges faced in underdeveloped parts of the world.

However, his perspective changed when a school friend shared that their family did not have health insurance and often struggled to see a doctor because of cost and limited access to affordable care. This was surprising to Ali. He had always believed that in a country with some of the most advanced medical technology in the world, healthcare would be easily accessible to everyone.

Curious to learn more, Ali began researching healthcare access in the United States. He soon discovered that despite major medical advancements, many individuals and families still face significant barriers to receiving timely care. Challenges such as lack of insurance, high medical costs, transportation difficulties, and limited awareness of available resources prevent many people from accessing healthcare when they need it most.

Determined to help address this problem through technology, Ali began developing ApolloHealth, a free mobile application designed to help people locate nearby free and low-cost healthcare clinics across the United States. The app allows users to search for clinics using their location or ZIP code and filter results based on distance and services offered. The platform helps bridge the access gap and gives people access to the primary care they need.

However, Ali realized that technology alone cannot fix health inequity, because underlying social determinants create unequal health outcomes — factors like income, education, housing, and community support determine who stays healthy and who falls behind. To address these deeper systemic barriers, he founded SEHAT (Securing Equitable Healthcare Access Together), a youth-led nonprofit based in Onalaska, WI. SEHAT is named after a Urdu language word which means “health”. SEHAT is dedicated to advancing health equity through education, resource awareness, community partnerships, technology and student-driven advocacy.