The
project was conceived by the Singhbhum Chapter of AID India and developed
through working experience in the area
of :
·
Adult Education
·
Women self-help groups
·
Micro enterprises for women
·
Campaigning against destitution of women
·
Action against construction of big dams consuming,
villages and countryside.
The
project was the outcome of series of micro studies which documented the
following problems and issues.
Though
many youth had problems related to their menstrual cycles,
reproductive track infections, sexual exploitation, their problems
were not attended.
Also
problems of childless couples were not addressed.
Many
of the women were made destitute by their male partners.
In
remote villages, the problems of unwanted children led to crude abortion
practices. This also led to a high rate of maternal mortality (813 for
100000 deliveries) and morbidity. Less than 20% of women had access to
family planning services.
The
problems of STD and reproductive track infections (RTIs) were identified
in certain migrant family pockets e.g. construction and brick kiln
workers.
Faith
in witches and ghosts and their power to cause disease led to
witch-killing in some areas.
The
current health centre services are reaching less than 25% of the
population.
Support
Financial
and technical support was provided by:
·
Primarily supported by the Department of International Development.
·
Medical and other supplies were provided by the state government and
district administration of Bihar.
·
Training services were provided by doctors.
·
Support was also provided by private and non-government organisations
in U K and India.
Management
and operation
The
management of operating the project was entrusted to Singhbhum Chapter of
AID. The project was managed by a team of professional staff from
A I D comprising eleven personnel which
included doctors and nurses ( some with specialist skills ), community and
social development staff, teaching tutors and promotional staff.
These were supplemented by personnal from government, private
services providers and community based organisations (C B Os) and workers
providing direct services to poor people, working with and managed by A I
D.
Activities
The
following key activities were carried out :
·
Development of capacity planning with CBO representatives working on
reproductive health.
·
Information support services to CBOs
·
Networking and advocacy for reproductive health programmes.
Some of the important achievements accomplished by the project were
:
·
Initial contacts were made with 194 CBOs to work with the project team in
the various communities.
·
The team recruited 293 external personnel to work with them comprising :
·
62 Traditional birth attendants (TBAs)
·
58 private medical practitioners
·
68 school teachers
·
155 personnel from women, youth, tribal and NGO groups.
·
Training was given to 155
people from the women, youth etc groups and were then engaged in
reproductive health service work.
·
Awareness campaign and resource materials were distributed to more than
14,300 people in the communities on a variety of themes and subjects, revolving
around the core objectives of medical and educational help and services.
·
The printed materials were supplemented through a variety of events :
·
327 video shows
·
97 folk media shows
·
87 public meetings
·
4 main exhibitions and 19 mini exhibitions in schools, markets and public
places.
·
Health camps numbering 88 were also organised through the CBOs. Also
various other events i.e. 267 campaign events, 4 workshops at the district
and sub-district level and 123 village level workshops and monthly review
meetings were conducted with the trained persons.
·
Networking was encouraged
and built up between 192 CBOs, 13 PHCs and
234 sub-centres.
·
Further networking was built up among 21 referral hospitals, 42 doctors
and 141 private service providers. Regular meetings and exchange of issues
on reproductive health were initiated.
·
Those benefiting directly from contraceptives services totalled 4124,
treatment for RTI/STD
problems 2395 and those with menstrual and infertility problems referred
to hospitals 2865.
·
Those benefiting from the various reproductive health education services
were 6634 women and tribal group members and 4216 children attending
schools.
·
In total 16463 persons from all areas benefited from the project during
the year.
·
Direct contacts between the CBOs, their trained persons and PHCs and sub-centre
staff of the PHCs were established in 194 villages. This led to a
considerable increase in the utilisation
of health services.
It
is noted that the main constraints experienced in this period were
logistical factors i.e. low level of literacy
and superstition through influence of witchcraft practitioners.
Objectives
The
project was aimed at the empowerment of CBOs on issues of reproductive
health through raising their abilities and capacities to improve the
reproductive health status of the tribal communities.
The
ongoing networking between CBOs raising and dealing with reproductive
health issues, the increase in use of private health service providers and
their ability to raise the status of the issues, and the forging of
co-operation and partnerships
among various community, block and district level stakeholders,
is of fundamental importance to the project’s future.
The
project has been structured into two stages i.e. first is for 3 years to
March 2002 and then for 2 years to March 2004
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