High prevalence of Tuberculosis with its high death rates in our block is an indicator of poor socio-economic condition of the people including those who belong to tribal communities. TB control programmes are well coordinated between clinic activities and field activities. Special TB clinics are run once a month in...
Nutrition Centre Initiative
The percentage of SAM and MAM children are higher than the national average. This makes it essential to have decentralised, community-based therapeutic management and nutrition rehab centres which will also serve as hands-on training centres for mothers and adolescent girls, the future mothers. Swasthya Swaraj has initiated steps to set...
Field Animators & Community Nurses
The Field Animators are educated local youth mostly tribal youth (plus two and above) who are the fulcrum of the Swasthya Swaraj comprehensive community health programme. They are trained with knowledge and skills in health topics, communication skills and leadership skills. They conduct village meetings, organize awareness programmes, compile data, supervise...
Out of Comfort Zone
They say, comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there. Meaning, when you are repetitively doing a particular activity or a particular job in a certain way for the long time then you get used to it. The newness of that activity gradually decreases and naturally it...
Waiting For ‘Death’ To Come
We reached our Kerpai health center at around noon. This time we could not come to clinic on Monday so we were late by 3 days. By the evening patient started coming to center. As patients were more than usual and that too at unusual time, our 3 days gap...
Envisioned and Lived
It was almost 9 pm on Friday when the ‘Thar (Mahindra) gaadi‘ arrived. It had gone to fetch the young girl in labour from a village- Serkapai about 4 km away. The girl had started experiencing labour pains that morning and had walked the narrow mountain path (not motorable) to...
Promoting Good Health
Many communities of remote villages in India still lack access to advanced medical services. Setting up clinics in far-flung areas is necessary to ensure good health, nation-wide Kaniguma and Kerpai villages of Thuamul Rampur block in Odisha are among the most underdeveloped areas in India. Basic services like health, education...
TULSI Program and HPS
TULSI is a programme conceived by Swasthya Swaraj after seeing the plight of tribal adolescent girls in Thuamul Rampur Block of Kalahandi district, Odisha. 90% of them living in remote villages and hamlets are illiterate and invisible. This is an attempt towards comprehensive community health in order to reduce maternal...
Swasthya Sathis: Primary Healthcare Providers
These are village women selected by the locals during village meetings at one per village/hamlet. 92% of the women are tribal out of which 90% are illiterate or semiliterate. Accessibility to healthcare facilities is an important factor in health promotion and is a big problem in tribal areas. Presence of...
Mortality: Maternal & Neonatal
In the area we work, the maternal mortality is unacceptably high and child mortality is 284 per 1000 live births. 74% of Infant mortality rate is neonatal deaths. Malaria in pregnancy is to the tune of 27-32% which leads to maternal and foetal complications and low birth weight babies. Regular...