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Popfocus 2006 October December English |
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1 Pages 1-10 |
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1.1 Page 1 |
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Adolescents in the age group of
10-19 years comprise about one
fifth of the population of India.
Focusing on this segment of the
population is critical for ensuring the
health of future generations and to
achieve population stabilization in the
country.
The Himalayan Institute Hospital
Trust (HIHT) with the support of the
Population Foundation of India (PH),
carried out a project on "Adolescent
Initiatives in Uttaranchal (AIU)". This
was a programme designed to address
the adolescents of Uttaranchal
through an innovative approach with
a focus on reproductive & sexual
health education and to provide
assistance for career development.
This programme focused on
individuals in the crucial period of
development; that is in the age group
of 13-19 years. The purpose of this
project was to sensitise adolescents a
dynamic future. The programme was
implemented over a period of three
years by four NGOs across three
districts of Uttaranchal with HIHT
taking the lead in coordinating the
activities of the programme and
uniformity of interventions. The four
implementing NGOs for this project
in the three districts of Uttaranchal
were Aastha Seva Sansthan
(AASTHA) & Village Technology and
Training Development Society
(VTTDS) for Jaspur block in
Udhamsingh Nagar district, CHIRAG
for Ramgarh block in Nainital and
HIHT for Sahaspur block in
Dehradun.
The programme coverage extended
to 308 villages spread across 3 blocks
in the selected districts of Uttaranchal
catering to a population of 304,190
of which 30,420 were adolescents.
At the field level, the field trainers
popularly known as "Pehal Mitra"
were the ones who took the
programme activities to the adole-
scents through their innovative
activities. Activities were regularly
supervised by the field supervisors
and monitored by the project
coordinators. An "Adolescent
Health Volunteer" was selected in
each village to help in mobilizing
adolescents for project activities and
also in sensitising the community on
issues related to adolescents.
One of the primary achievements of
this project while reaching out to
young adolescents was the designing
of a package specificallysuited to their
needs. After extensive brainstorming
and discussion with key stakeholders,
it was decided to develop a package
that deals with various aspects of
reproductive and sexual health in a
very user friendly manner. This
package was designed not only to
cover technical issues around
reproductive and sexual health, but
also help adolescents deal with
developmental issues with respect to
decision making, career and other
related areas.
This programme for the youth in the
state of Uttaranchal has been very
successful because of its innovative
approach to addressing adolescent
issues as a comprehensive issue and
not restricting it only to reproductive
and sexual health. This programme
has reached out to thousands of
adolescents through groups formed
all over the project area with correct
information on sexual and
reproductive health. The key to the
success of this programme has been
the comprehensive approach
adopted in concept and programme
delivery. The programme understood
from the beginning that adolescent
reproductive and sexual health issues
cannot be dealt with in isolation from
the community and the felt needs of
the adolescents. Therefore the
community- village elders, parents
and schools- were involved from the
beginning and once their confidence
was gained the interventions were
initiated with the adolescents.
On October 11, 2006, a dissemi-
nation workshop was held at
New Delhi. Participants at the
workshop comprised representatives
from the Government of India,
national and international
organizations, Government of
Village Health Committees in Jharkhand - 3
Scaling Up Pilot Projects in Reproductive
Health & Adolescent Health in India - 4
Advocacy on Population, Health and
Social Development in Bihar - 6
An Update on Activities of the Global
Fund Round 4 Project on Hiv/Aids-
"Access to Care & Treatment" - 8
The Regional Resource Centre -
Recent Activities - 9
Achieving Nrhm Outcomes -
Involving Panchayati Raj Institutions - 10
Health Mela at Gurgaon - 10
Spitfire Communications Training
Programme - 11
This year the award goes to - 11
Advisory Group Meeting on Community
Action - National Rural Health Mission - 12
From the Executive Director's Diary - 12
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Capacity building encompasses the nation's
human, scientific, organizational, institutional,
technological and resource potential. One of the basic
goals of capacity building is to augment and increase
the capacity to assess and address the critical issues
related to policy alternatives and implementation
mechanisms among development options, based on
environment potential and constraints and the
requirements of the people in the country. Capacity
building is not just training, but includes human
resource development, developing and increasing
people's skillsand empowering them with knowledge
and training to enable them to perform effectively.
It also includes organizational development and
institutional framework development. Capacity
building is a crucial issue and there is a huge need for
it. There is a wide range of capacity building
mechanisms. Some of these are training, peer-to-peer
education, research and grant making. Partnership
development is also an essential mechanism for
capacity building. Partnership provides NGOs access
to knowledge and skills, innovative methodologies,
funding prospects and networking.
The need for capacity building in the NGO sector is
enormous. In the past, support organizations have
been providing help in various ways to build capacity
at the national, state and village levels. The Population
Foundation of India (PH)has been increasingly making
efforts towards capacity buildingas part of its advocacy
programme. Some of the strategies being looked at
are orientation programs on population and family
planning/reproductive health with the faculty of
training institutes and representatives from
departments of health, education and social welfare,
State Civil Service officers and district program
managers; training on population and family
planning/reproductive health for District Panchayat
leaders and block level Panchayati Raj functionaries
and development and dissemination of relevant rights
based information on population, family planning/
reproductive health issues. This would help create a
resource pool on population, family planning/
reproductive health and reproductive rights advocacy
through capacity building of NGOs and individuals.
The focus would also be on strengthening civilsociety
organisations to develop and implement strategies
for community monitoring of the National Rural
Health Mission (NRHM) through capacity building of
NGOs and existing alliances in selected states to
undertake monitoring of the NRHM and the RCH II
programme. This would be a step towards ensuring
better delivery of family planning and reproductive
health services.
Popfbcus
Uttaranchal, HIHT, the three NGOs involved in the
implementation of the project, experts and the PFI.
Mr.A.R.Nanda, Executive Director, PH welcomed the
participants and gave them a description of the project
components, the efforts which had gone into refining the
strategy of the programme and the extensive research that
had been carried out. Mr.Vijay Dhasmana, Member,
Presidential Body, HIHT, spoke to the participants about
the HIHT - the philosophy and ideology of the institution.
He also spoke briefly on the Rural Development Institute
(ROIl, which is a division of the HIHT. It had been
conceptualised with a specific focus on community
development. The Institute is the rural outreach division
of the HIHT (Dehradun) covering the whole state of
Uttaranchal.
~}.
~
DISSEMINATION WORKSHOP
on
Adolescent Initiatives Uttaranchal (AIU) Project
11' October, 2006, PHO Hou",. \\," Delhi
~
Dr. M.E. Khan, Regional Associate Director, Population
Council chaired the Technical Session and Ms. Jasmine
Pavri, Senior Programme Officer, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust
was the co-chair.
Ms. Maithili from the HIHT presented an overview of the
project which covered three blocks in three districts of
Uttaranchal and more than 30000 adolescents. She
mentioned that efforts had been made to co-relate the needs
of adolescents with a realistic and implementable
programme in which scientific facts could be found as
evidence. She spoke about the programme, which had as
its basic themes Reproductive and Sexual Health (RSH)
and career development. She said that the programme
had been designed after carrying out a rapid rural appraisal
and needs assessment of adolescents. Ms Maithili stressed
the fact that the HIHT had a dual role of being an
implementing as well as a technical agency.
Communication and training material such as the "Pehal
Kit" and a booklet titled "Aao Jaane Aur Samjhe" had
been prepared as part of the project. One of the
achievements of the programme has been the adoption of
the same by the Department of Women and Child
Development, Government of Uttaranchal, in four districts.
Kishori Utthan is the name under which the programme
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PopfOcus
Village Health Comminees in Jharkhand
"Strengthening NGO Capacity to
Improve Maternal and Child
Health Status in Jharkhand through
a Life Cycle Based Approach" is a
project being implemented by Nav
Bharat Jagriti Kendra (NBJK) with
support from the Population
Foundation of India (PFI) and the Sir
Dorabji Tata Trust. Technical support
to the project, which is being
implemented in Churchu block of
Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, is
being provided by the Child in Need
Institute (CIN!).In accordance with the
guidelines of the National Rural
Health Mission (NRHM), Village
Health Committees (VHCs)have been
formed in every village. The
Committees endeavour to discuss
various aspects of health problems in
the hamlets of the village and possible
solutions of the same at their regular
monthly meetings. Members of the
Committees have been trained to
assess the needs of the village through
constant monitoring and analysis of
the situation regarding health in each
village. Various solutions to existing
problems are discussed involving the
Sahiyas of the village. Children and
pregnant and lactating mothers are
given special attention. The VHCs
have established linkages with
government functionaries so that the
facilities are available for the people
of the village. A federation has been
formed at the block level.
Although the VHCs are working
effectively at their own level, paucity
of fund does not enable them to meet
the immediate health requirements of
the community. Thus, it was thought
necessary to set up a Village Health
Kosh, which is a village health fund,
to be utilized for emergency health
related needs of the community.
Funds are raised through contribution
of the members of the VHCs and
voluntary contributions from the
community members. These funds are
spent on community initiatives like
cleaning of wells, repair of village hand
pumps, health camps and
emergencies. Each VHC has one
Village Health Kosh. A treasurer for
a Kosh is selected from amongst the
Committee members. The Treasurer
is allocated the responsibility of
looking after utilisation and
management of funds and providing
monthly reports of income and
expenditure of the VHC. The
statement of income and expenditure
is placed before the Gram Sabha once
a year.
A remote village called Namadih,
surrounded by forests and hills, comes
under the Basadih sub-centre of
Churchu block. People of this village
face the problem of access to health
services due to its geographical
location. The level of awareness
regarding services provided by the
government is also low. Two years
ago, in December 2004, the Nimidih
Village Health Committee was
formed. The Committee was oriented
on health issues and to ensure
community participation, one Sahiya
was selected from each hamlet in the
village to represent the community in
the Committee. The VHC has been
striving to improve the health status
of the village since its inception.
Pregnant women and newborn
children are given special attention.
A VHK was set up by the VHC and
the funds collected were effectively
used for health related issues in the
village. Amongst the various initiatives
taken by the VHC has been the
purchase of bleaching powder for
chlorination of wells during the
monsoon season. This was needed
to be done as this was not adequately
provided for by the sub centre. The
initiative resulted in reduction in the
cases of diarrhoea in the village. The
VHC in Nimidih village has also been
responding efficiently to pregnancy
related emergencies. In May 2006, a
24-year-old woman called Sushkala
Devi, during her second pregnancy,
developed acute abdominal pain. Her
husband, Raghubir Singh who had no
money, requested the VHC for a sum
of Rs.500 to provide for treatment
expenses of his wife. The money
enabled him to meet the costs
of treatment in a hospital.
An emergency Caesarean operation
was carried out and Sushkala Devi
was thus able to give birth to a healthy
baby. The money borrowed from the
VHC has since been repayed by
Raghubir Singh and the incident is
an example of the good services
being rendered to the people by
the VHC.
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Po p./Ocus
Scaling UP Pilot Projects in
Reproductive Health & Adolescent Health in India
A project on identifying and
facilitating scaling up of
successful pilot initiatives in
reproductive health and adolescent
health was initiated by the PFI in
March 2006. This project is being
supported by the John D and
Catherine T MacArthur Foundation
and is being implemented as a
partnership between the Population
Foundation of India (PF!) and
Management Systems International
(MSI), a management consultancy
firm based in the United States of
America. The PFI is facilitating select
NGO pilot interventions on
reproductive health to go to scale.
As part of this process, the PFI
is facilitating linkages with
Government, NGOs, donors and
corporate agencies at the district,
state and national levels.
Model for reducing neonatal
mortality through Home Based
Newborn Care: Home Based
Newborn Care (HBNC) model is a
pilot intervention to reduce neonatal
mortality by providing essential and
emergency care to newborn through
semi literate women in community.
This model has proven success of
reducing neonatal mortality by over
seventy percent and in varied
demographic settings (field tested
under Gadchiroli, Ankur and the
Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) trials). Taking forward the
developments in the previous quarter
(July - September 2006), PFI and
SEARCH disseminated
the
recommendations of the national
workshop held in August 2006. The
Norway India Partnership Initiative
(NIP!) is a bilateral agreement
between the Governments of Norway
and India to provide catalytic support
for India to achieve its commitment
on Millennium Development Goals.
This initiative provides an opportunity
in 5 states to train over 100,000
Accredited Social Health Activists
(ASHAs) on HBNC. As member of
the Advisory Committee on Training
Strategy for ASHAs, the PFI
advocated
and
strongly
recommended inclusion of the full
package of services, including those
for asphyxia and sepsis
management, in the
training of ASHAs. The
PFI worked very closely
with SEARCH and
CARE to develop a
strategy for training the
ASHAs. The PFI and
CARE visited the ICMR
trial sites to understand
the challenges faced
in training Shishu-
Rakshaks (an equivalent
of ASHAs) on HBNC.
The PFI, MSI (Manage-
ment Systems Inter-
national, US) and
The stakeholders meeting on November 15, 2006.
Extreme right: Dr. Saroj Pachauri, Population Council,
chairing the meeting.
SEARCH held a 3-days' meeting to
strategize the scaling-up of HBNC.
The strategy for furthering HBNC
spelt out four approaches - (a)
capacity building of ASHAs in NIPI
states, (b)advocating HBNC in NRHM
states, (c) establishing a HBNC
Secretariat for supporting training and
advocacy at national and state levels,
and (d)technical capacity transfer from
SEARCH to other NGOs.
IHMP and the PFI are conducting a
social assessment study to understand
the determinants of sexual and
reproductive health among adolescent
girls in Marathwada and Vidharbha
regions of Maharashtra. The IHMP
and the PFI organized a one-day
meeting of social researchers and
technical experts at Pune to get their
suggestions on the social assessment
design and tools. Following this
Model for addressing re-
productive health concerns of
married adolescent girls: SATHI
meeting, the social assessment design
has been strengthened and would
soon be implemented.
(Safe Adolescence Transitions and Model for improving immuni-
Health Initiative) is a pilot to address zation uptake in tribal
reproductive health needs of married population: The PFI and MSI
adolescent girls (likesafe motherhood, facilitated a 2-day workshop in
reducing anaemia, increasing access December 2006 for Seva Mandir,
to contraceptive, quality abortion and Udaipur (Rajasthan) to develop a
post-abortion care and increasing scale-up vision for its model. Seva
access to treatment of RTI/STIs). The Mandir's model of immunization
model, implemented by the Institute camp entails regular camps at fixed
for Health Management (IHMP), locations in tribal hamlets (with
Pachod, Maharashtra has highlighted population of 500 or less) and on
promising community based fixed days. A community-based
approaches that can be integral to worker promotes these camps in the
success of several community-based community. The camps, where a
programs. The IHMP evolved a state General Nurse Midwife (GNM)
level strategy that had greater provides services, are monitored using
focus on influencing policy and date-time camera. A unique feature
programs for married adolescents in about the camp has been
Maharashtra.
complimentary nutrition services,
wherein each immunized child gets
As part of the initiative to scale up one kilo of lentils (dal)to supplement
SATHI, the IHMP gained partnership the nutritional need. The project,
of the Directorate of Health Services which ended in December 2006, has
(DHS), Maharashtra. In partnership shown that within two years of
with the DHS, Maharashtra, the implementation,
immunization
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PopJOCUs
coverage has gone up to 51 % in areas
where Seva Mandir set up the camps
as against 15% at the control sites.
In the first phase of scaling-up, Seva
Mandir is looking at taking their
model to scale throughout Udaipur
area. This phase would be
implemented in partnership with
Udaipur based NGOs and the
Government, and would study the
quality of result if it is transferred to
other NGOs and to the state health
systems.
Model for providing low-cost,
sustainable services for maternal
and child care through Skilled
Birth Attendants: Action Research
and Training for Health (ARTH),
Udaipur had evolved a model for
providing safe delivery and maternal
health services through skill birth
attendants. This model, based in tribal
population, is very successful in
increasing access of tribal population
to safe delivery and newborn care
services. It is limited by its capacity
for cost-recovery. ARTH is exploring
a low-cost, but self-sustaining
mechanism to provide safe delivery,
antenatal and post-natal care and
newborn care services to tribal, rural
and marginalized communities.
In order to assist them in analYZing
the challenges and opportunities, MSI
and the PFI organized a 3 day
meeting with ARTH and Basic Health
Services (ARTH's partner in this
initiative) in December 2006. At the
close of the meeting, the group
acknowledged that for the design
being developed by Basic Health
Services (BHS) a lot more information
needs to be obtained. The
information gaps were market-
oriented and financial in nature.
In the next quarter, the PH and ARTH
willengage technical experts from the
corporate finance and marketing
fields to assist ARTH in analyzing
market and financial dimensions, and
in developing a model for low-cost yet
sustainable service delivery on
maternal and newborn health.
Model for increasing adole-
scents' understanding on sexual
and reproductive health rights:
The PH had supported a programme
on Adolescent
Initiatives
Uttaranchal, which was implemented
by the Himalayan Institute Hospital
Trust -a Dehradun based NGO - in
Uttaranchal. The programme focused
on individuals in the crucial period of
development that is in the age group
of 13-19 years. Its approaches were
designed to enhance adolescents'
awareness and knowledge on SRH
issues, and facilitate uptake of
services.
The PH organized a 2-day visioning
exercise for HIHT in November
2006. During this exercise, it
emerged that there is need for
building suitable environment in the
state for carrying out adolescent
sexual and reproductive health
programmes. The HIHT could take
the lead in forming an NGO coalition
for advocating and sensitizing for
programmes on adolescent sexual
and reproductive health.
Buildingcoalitions on scaling up:
The PFI has established a multi-
stakeholder working group on scaling
up model interventions in the area
of population and reproductive
health. The working group,
comprising NGOs, the Government,
the private sector, donor
agencies and individual
experts, met in August
2006. The second meeting
of the Multi-Stakeholder
Forum (MSF) on scaling
up innovative interventions
on population and
reproductive health was
organized on November
15, 2006. The theme
for the meeting was
"Innovative Interventions
on Adolescent Health".
During this meeting, three
NGOs - MAMTA, CINI
and the Academy for Nursing Studies
- presented their innovative
interventions with the adolescent
community.
MAMTA presented a model that they
used to show convergence of Sexual
and Reproductive Health (SRH) and
HIV/ AIDS related services for young
people. Their model has community-
based service units that young people
from the community manage. These
units, called Youth Information
Centers, are linked to services
like Youth Counseling Centers,
Primary Health Centers (and
subsidiary centers) and Voluntary
Counseling and Testing Centres.
Their intervention also built capacity
of service providers at the community
level and with peripheral centers of
health systems on adopting youth
friendliness in services. Though they
shared some initial trends of uptake
of services by young people at the
intervention site, the implementation
time for the model was too short to
evidence impact.
CINI shared their work with
adolescents and youth to develop
spaces in community for young
people. Young people in their
programme have designed and
established Drop-In Centers. Drop-in
Centers (DICs) are community-based
resource centres for youth friendly
services and information, and serve
young people in hard to reach areas
or areas with low mobility. These
DICs are established in spaces
provided by the Panchayat, and have
strong integration with Panchayati Raj
Institutions, Integrated Child
Development Services and health
systems. The development of these
centers marked a key change in the
targeted communities, which
provided spaces where adolescents
could relax and meet their peers.
The Academy for Nursing Studies
shared four of its interventions and
the lessons they learnt while
implementing each of them. Their
interventions with adolescents have
evolved over the last eleven years.
All the interventions dealt with
capacity building, empowerment and
education of adolescent boys and girls
on reproductive and sexual health and
rights and healthy life style.
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Pophcus
Advocacv on Population, Health and Social Development in Bihar
As part of its advocacy initiatives
on population and reproductive
health issues the PH had organized a
one day advocacy seminar on
Population, Health and Social
Development in Patna, Bihar in
August 2006 for Members of the
Legislative Assembly (MLAs)of Bihar.
At the meeting the Bihar Legislative
Forum on population, health and
social development was formed. One
of the action points for the Forum was
to sensitize the elected Panchayati Raj
Institution (PRIs)representatives (from
the Gram Panchayat to the Zila
Parishad level), the district
administration
and health
functionaries by organizing such
advocacy seminars at the district level.
It was decided that a district level
seminar would be held at Kishanganj
because it ranked second lowest in
terms of health indicators in the
country - the lowest being Sravasti
district in Uttar Pradesh.
The district level advocacy seminar on
Health, Population and Social
Development was held on November
4, 2006 at Kishanganj, in
collaboration with the Bihar
Legislative Forum. Local support was
provided by the Bihar Voluntary
Health Association (BVHA) and the
district administration of Kishanganj.
The objective of the day long district
level seminar was to sensitize the
elected PRI representatives of
Kishanganj on population, health and
social development of the district,
which could enable the stakeholders
to discharge their responsibilities with
sincerity to contribute positively to the
development process. The seminar
was divided into two parts. The first
session was the technical session for
Zila Pramukhs and the Panchayat
Pramukhs of Kishanganj while the
second session was an open session
for all participants including all PRI
members, health functionaries and
ICDS workers of Kishanganj.
There were almost 1000 participants
comprising elected PRI repre-
sentatives from the Gram Panchayat
to the district level, health
functionaries and representatives
from the Government of Bihar.
Female elected members of the
Panchayats of Kishanganj were
present in large numbers. Some of
the institutions which participated at
the Seminar were UNICEF (Bihar),
UNFPA, the Packard Foundation,
BEP, Government of Bihar, Statistics
Department, Government of Bihar,
ICDS, Women's Development
Corporation, Department of Health
& Family Welfare, Government of
Bihar, Mahila Samakhya, BSACS,
Bihar Voluntary Health Association,
Patna and other local civil society
institutions.
Mr. Uday Narayan Choudhary,
Hon 'ble Speaker of the Bihar
Legislative Asembly, formally
inaugurated
the seminar.
Mr.D.N.Prasad, District Magistrate,
Kishanganj, delivered the welcome
address. Presentations were made by
representatives from the PH, MLAs
of Kishanganj, representatives from
the UNICEF, UNFPA, the Packard
Foundation and by Mr.Braj Kishore
Singh Prabhat, Executive Secretary,
Bihar Legislative Assembly.
I
Mr. B.G. Verghese, Member,
Governing Board, PH, made the first
presentation of the session, after
releasing a publication titled
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"Kishanganj Population and Health
Profile" brought out by the PH
He gave a brief of the PFI and focused
on the past and present activities of
the Foundation. He mentioned that
the PFI has been striving, since its
inception, for population stabilization
and for bringing about improvement
in the quality of lives of the
marginalized section of the
population. In recent years, the
Foundation has been organizing
advocacy meetings with various
stakeholders in Maharashtra, Orissa
and the Hindi speaking heartland -
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh
and Madhya Pradesh. The
marginalized section of the
population who live in the backward
districts of these states have been
targeted with the objective of
empowering them to take their own
decisions in all aspects of their lives.
While explaining the objectives
behind the PFI's efforts towards
organizing such district level
workshops in some of the identified
poor districts of Bihar, he mentioned
that with these activities the PFI aims
at highlighting the issues in
population vis a vis poor socio-
economic development so that the
stakeholders are sensitised on these
issues and are able to fulfil their
responsibilities towards bringing
about population stabilization,
sustainable health and overall
development in the relevant districts.
He appealed to the participants,
especially the PRI representatives, to
engage themselves effectivelyin social
responsibilities and work sincerely
towards betterment of the poor and
socially weaker sections to enable
them to fight against social evils such
as ignorance and illiteracy, which are
impeding the process of development
in the district of Kishanganj.
Dr. Almas Ali, Senior Advisor, PFI,
delivered the keynote address. He
presented an overview of popu-Iation
and health issues of Bihar as
highlighted in the district profile of
Kishanganj. This was followed by
presentations made by Mr. D. K.
Mangal, repre-sentative of UNFPA,
Madhya Pradesh, Ms.Kavita Singh
from UNICEF, Patna, Ms. Monika
Waghenbam of Packard Foundation,
Mr.Akhtarul Imam, MLA, Bihar
Legislative Assembly, Mr. Murlidhar
Mandai, MLA, Bihar Legislative
Asembly, Mrs. Raju Kumari, MLA,
Bihar Legislative Assembly and
Mr. Braj Kishore Singh Prabhat,
Executive Secretary, Bihar Legislative
Council.
Concluding remarks by the Speaker,
Mr.Uday Narayan Choudhary and a
vote of thanks proposed by Mr. Gopal
Agarwal, MLA, Kishanganj, marked
the end of the session.
PoP)OCUs
The open session of the seminar was
held in the afternoon of the same day
at which the health functionaries of
the districts also joined along with
the elected PRI representatives from
all villages. Almost 5000 participants
registered for the open session.
The session had been designed in
such a way that it included
presentations by the elected
representatives from the district, block
and village levels of Kishanganj,
eminent resource persons and
performances by cultural groups in
the form of street plays, songs, and
puppet shows with themes on socially
relevant issues.
The advocacy seminar was the first
of its kind in more ways than one.
It was the first of its kind in that such
a seminar on health and population
issues had not been held before at
Kishanganj. It was for the first time
that the Bihar Legislative Forum had
organized a seminar at the district
levelwith active participation of MLAs
of Kishanganj from all parties and the
district administration. The document
titled "Kishanganj: Population and
Health Profile", containing detailed
information on the health and
population status of Kishanganj
district and all the blocks, prepared
for the seminar in English, Hindi and
Urdu marked a first as well.
Adolescent Initiatives in
Uttaranchal
has been adopted with funds being
channelled through the World
Food Programme. The HIHT is the
technical agency for the same.
DrVartika Saxena of HIHT made a
presentation on the key processes and
activities of the project. She outlined
the basic objectives of the project and
described the activities, which were
classified under different heads such as
baseline survey, capacity building,
health service delivery, and the
activities of the Adolescent Resource
Centre (ARC). Some components of
the programme like the Pehal radio
programme and the career fairs had
received very good response. In less
than two years of its implementation,
there was plenty of achievement in
terms of setting up processes, as the
programme catered to married,
unmarried, school going and out-of-
school adolescents and included
components of awareness on
adolescent reproductive health, service
delivery,setting up of resource centres,
activities on Behaviour Change
Communication (BCC), capacity
building of the three partner NGOs on
all of these aspects and maintaining a
Management Information System to
capture field data.
A presentation on the findings of the
external endline evaluation of the
project was made by Dr.Lalitendu
Jagatdeb of the PH He highlighted
the efforts that had been made to
refine the research design of the
project and the contribution made by
Dr. M.E. Khan towards the same.
He described the process of area
selection and sampling done for the
baseline survey in both the
implementation and the control areas
of the project and the efforts made
to train the NGOs for carrying out
the same. He also described some of
the key findings of the evaluation,
lessons learnt and good practices of
the processes.
Participants from the three
implementing NGOs and the field
staff of the HIHT shared their
experiences related to the project.
An open discussion at the end of the
workshop brought forth many
suggestions from the participants.
II
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Pop.!Ocus
An Update on Activities of the Global Fund Round 4 Project on HIV/AiDS -
uAccess to Care & Treatmenf'
he Global Fund Unit at the PH
for the Global Fund Round 4
Project on HIV/ AIDS- "Access to
Care & Treatment" would be
completing two years in March 2007.
The second phase of the project is
likely to begin in April 2007 for a
period of three years.
The 23rd meeting of the India
Country Coordinating Mechanism
(India-CCM) for the Global Fund to
fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
(GFATM) was held on October 30,
2006 at Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Population Foundation of India
presented the work done during
Phase 1 of the project. The proposal
for the Round 4 HN / AIDS grant was
presented for assessment and
endorsement of the India CCM. The
Access to Care and Treatment - ACT
Programme was given an 'A'
category
rating for the
implementation of the programme in
the six high prevalence states of India.
Ms.Rashmi Sharma addressing
participants at Coimbatore.
A meeting for interaction with non-
governmental organizations (NGOs)
was organized at Kohima, Nagaland
on November 22,2006. There were
thirty participants, mostly chief
functionaries, from 13 NGOs at the
meeting. Ms Rashmi Sharma,
Programme Associate, Global Fund
Project unit at the PFI, was the
facilitator at the meeting. An overview
of the Access to Care and Treatment
programme in Nagaland was
presented by Ms. Everista Kapu, State
Programme Coordinator, Nagaland
while. Mr Victor, State Programme
Associate, Indian Network of Positive
People (INP+) discussed the role and
the future plans of the INP+. This
was followed by a discussion led by
Ms Rashmi on the importance of
linkages and networking for
improving the enrollment of People
Living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHAs) in
Nagaland.
At Mahabalipuram on December
13-15, 2006, a three day review
meeting of the PFI-Global Fund
Project team was held. Members of
the Project Management Unit,
New Delhi and the different state
teams presented the work done
during the last quarter of the year.
The 24th Annual National Conference
of the Indian Society for Medical
Statistics took place at Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu on December 3, 2006.
Mr. Subrat Mohanty, Programme
Manager and Ms. Rashmi Sharma,
Programme Associate from the
Global Fund Round 4 Access to Care
& Treatment Programme participated
at the meeting. They made a
presentation on "The NGO's role
in HIV/ AIDS response in India:
the PH experience" at the session
on "Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in
India".
On World AIDS Day, December 1,
2006, the Global Fund programme
team at the PH got together the PH
staff to mark the occasion. After a
few words from Mr. A.R. Nanda,
Executive Director, PFI, a docu-
mentary film on stigma and
discrimination made with HIV
positive people in the North East,
was screened. A signature campaign
was organized at the end of the
meeting wherein all staff members
wrote down relevant messages on
HIV/AIDS.
The Institute of Health Management,
Pachod, (IHMP), Maharashtra,
in collaboration with the Population
Foundation of India, organized a
workshop on "HN Workplace Policy
for the NGO Sector in India" on
November 2-3, 2006 at the India
Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
t WORLD AIDS DAY
1\\ 1st December 20045
"STOP AIDS: KEEP THE PROMISE"
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Pop}bcus
A feather in the cap for the District Level
Network (DLN) Bijapur team - a Case Story
A 25 year old woman named Pramila (named changed to protect
identity) lost her husband due to HIV/ AIDS. On becoming a
widow she and her child were disowned by her husband's family.
The child was HIV negative. The fear of being infected with
HN / AIDS stemming from ignorance about facts on transmission
of the disease was the reason for their behaviour. The hapless
woman, left to fend for herself, sought the help of the Bijapur District
Level Network (DLN).
A team from the DLN, comprising among others a District Level
Health Officer (DLNO), a Counsellor and a Social Worker visited
Pramila's in laws at their home and counselled them on facts
regarding HIV/ AIDS and the modes of transmission of the disease.
The team stressed on the importance of family support being
conducive to a patient leading a healthy life and the availability and
feasibility of getting antiretroviral treatment at the hospital. The
team was also able to explain to the family members the adverse
consequences of throwing the person out of the house when she
really needs their care and support. The counselling skills and
persistent efforts of the team yielded results when the family agreed
to accept her and the child back into the family fold. It seems to be
a case of living happily ever after, as Pramila and her child are now
living at home and getting family help for treatment of the ailment.
The PH has initiated eight special studies
during Phase I of the Global Fund AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)
programme to be completed by December
2007. The studies are on the following
topics: (i) Assessing PLWHA's expectations
about quality of care and support services
with a view to helping District Level
Networks (ii)Understanding support group
meetings of PLWHAs (iii) Setting up
standard guidelines for providing care &
support services including palliative care (iv)
Documentation of various models of
training on HIV/ AIDS in select states of
India (v) Documentation of good practices
at the DLNs and the Treatment Counselling
Centres (TCCs) (vi)Assessing the capacity
building needs of DLNs/TCCs/PLCs (vii)
Understanding various approaches of
service delivery at TCCs / ART Centres and
(viii) Evolving per treatment education
approaches in the networks of PLWHAs
through state level consultative workshops.
The findings of the studies would be
disseminated in April/May, 2007.
The Regional Resource Centre - Recent Activities
The Population Foundation of
India is the Regional Resource
Centre (RRC) of the Government of
India for Reproductive and Child
Health in Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
The last three months were replete
with visits to the two states for
meetings, workshops and other
activities.
by the RRC Bihar, for the staff of the
Root Institute for Wisdom Culture,
Gaya. The training programmes were
conducted at the Bihar Voluntary
Health Association (BVHA)at Patna.
Training on RCH took place on
November 28-30 while training on
"Quality of Care" was conducted on
December 20-22.
The RRC team in Bihar visited
Mokama and Nawada to identify the
best practice centre. Nazareth
Hospital, Mokama and the Indian
Institute of Rural Development (IIRD),
Nawada have been identified as the
best practice centres for adolescent
health and community mobilization.
To monitor and support the RRC
team in Chhattisgarh in validating the
data for the baseline survey of
underserved and unserved areas and
to develop a database of NGOs, the
Programme Associate, PH visited the
RRC Chhatlisgarh a number of times.
Two training programmes on RCH
and Quality of Care were conducted
The team at the RRC, Bihar visited
the State Institute of Health & Family
Welfare, Patna, to assess their
institutional capacity for training of
Accredited Social Health Activists
(ASHAs), para-medics and medics on
public health issues.
The RRC, Bihar has developed a
resource directory for NGOs in Bihar
and have also brought out a manual
on accounts for the Mother NGOs
(MNGOs)!Field NGOs (FNGOs) and
other NGOs in Bihar.
As a preparatory measure for
organisation of a workshop on
immunization, meetings have been
held with Dr. Gopal Prasad, State
Immunization Officer, State Health
Society, Bihar, Dr. Bhaskar, State
Immunization Officer, World Health
Organization, and Dr.Geeta Prasad,
Additional Director, Health Services.
At the meetings, strategies on how all
the concerned agencies could come
together at a single platform to address
the issue of immunization at different
levels were dicussed. Both Dr. Gopal
Prasad and Dr. Bhaskar have
consented to help the PFI in
organizing the workshop. They have
requested the Foundation to provide
technical support in the training of
Auxiliary Nurse Midwives(ANMs)and
others on routine immunization and
also to be involved in the monitoring
of the routine immunization
programme through MNGOs and
other partners of the PH
A composite proposal on RCH for
unserved and underserved areas in
Chhattisgarh was submitted by
MNGOs for the implementation of
the MNGO scheme. The same has
been accepted by the district health
authorities.
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Pop./Ocus
Achieving NRHM Outcomes -
Involving Panchavati Rai Institutions
The Centre for Health and Social
1 Justice (CHSJ) and the Public
Health Institute in collaboration with
the Panchayati Raj Ministry
organized a one-day consultation on
November 23, 2006 at New Delhi
for exploring mechanisms to improve
the involvement of Panchayati Raj
Institutions (PRls) for achieving
NRHM outcomes. Participants at the
consultation included representatives
from Civil Society Organizations and
networks involved in working on
health and PRI's issues in the NRHM
focused states, namely, Bihar,
Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh,
Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Orissa. A representa-
tive from Punjab also participated at
the consultation.
In the first session of the consultation
presentations were made by the
representatives of civil society
organizations. Mr Joe Varghese,
People's Rural Health Watch (JSA)
made a presentation on "Role of
PRls in NRHM". Mr Subhash
Mendhapurkar, Executive Director,
SUTRA, Himachal Pradesh presented
"Main problems of PRls and Health
Functionaries - An Experience of
Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and
Madhya Pradesh". This was followed
by a presentation on "PRI and Social
Audit in Health" by Mr Anand Shahi,
Prayas, Nainital and one on "Role of
PRIs - An Experience of Eight EAG
States - One Year of NRHM" by
Mr Ramakant Rai, Healthwatch
Forum, Uttar Pradesh.
The first session was chaired by
Mr A. R Nanda, Executive Director,
Population Foundation of India.
Mr Nanda referred to the 73rd and 74th
Constitutional Amendments and the
expectations from PRI's contribution
to the field of health. He explained
how the difference in delegation of
responsibilities to Panchayats in
different states resulted in different
levels of involvement of PRls in these
states. He said that the involvement
of PRIs in the NRHM needs to be
discussed to be able to come up with
some strategic action plan to improve
this involvement.
Important issues related to civil
society organizations working with
PRIs were discussed in the second
session of the consultation.
Recommendations that emerged
from the consultation were submitted
to Ms Meenakshi Datta Ghosh,
Secretary,
Panchayati
Raj,
Government of India, at the end.
Health Mela at Gurgaon
On November 5,2006, a health
fair - the Sukarya Sehat Mela -
was organized at Shalom Hills
International School in Gurgaon at
which the PFI participated. Stalls at
the mela encompassed not only the
modern scientific system of medicine
but also alternative systems such as
Homoeopathy,
Naturopathy,
Ayurveda and Yoga. The idea behind
such a mela was to generate
awareness on holistic and good health
amongst the urban population.
Twenty-five stalls were provided to
various institutions/NGOs working
with health related issues. Informative
material was displayed and
distributed. Talk shows and
presentations by eminent medical
practitioners took place and free
. consultations and health check ups
by doctors from reputed hospitals
were provided during the day long
mela. Some of the institutions which
contributed to and participated in the
mela are Batra Hospital, Bapu Nature
Cure, Dr. Behl Skin Institute,
Dr.Shroff's Eye Hospital, Max
Healthcare, Rockland Hospital,
Pushpawati Singhania Research
Institute (PSRI) for Liver, Renal and
Digestive Diseases and Sitaram
Bhartia Institute of Science and
Research.
The mela was inaugurated by Mr. Rao
Dan Singh, Parliamentary Secretary,
Ministry of Transport, Government of
Haryana. A mobile van was also
launched. The van has unique features
in terms of the way it has been
designed. It can treat patients on the
spot and can also provide diagnostic
facilities like an X-ray machine, ECG
The mobile health van.
and basic equipment for check up of
the eyes, ENT and gynaecological
examinations. The mobile health
van would cater to remote and
underserved rural areas with a team
comprising a doctor, a nurse and a
laboratory assistant, which would
pr~vide healthcare and health
education to villagers.
The Population Foundation of India was invited to present all its various activities related to young people, at a
meeting of the Working Group on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, on October 19,
2006, at the Population Council. Ms. A.Banerji from the PH made the presentation on behalf of the PH
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Spidire Communications Training Programme
Athree-day residential communi-
cations training programme was
organized by the PH, on November
8-10, 2006 at Heritage Resort,
Manesar, Gurgaon. The training
programme was the result of a
collaborative effort of the Population
Foundation of India and the David and
Lucile Packard Foundation to provide
organizations working on sexual and
reproductive health issues with a set
of communications planning tools and
strategies to help advance their
respective organisations'
goals.
Spitfire Strategies, a US based
communication advocacy group,
facilitated the training.
During the training programme,
the consultants helped the
participants to build their
knowledge on the Smart Chart
tool, to present a new tool for
communications planning and to
conduct follow-up training
workshops that would enable the
participants to learn how to apply the
tool to a diverse set of advocacy and
communications issues. Around 30
persons were present at the training
Pophcus
programme. A selected group of 12
individuals was trained on the third day
as Master Trainers, who would in turn
give further training in future.
This year the award goes to .
To encourage and motivate children of the permanent staff at the
Population Foundation of India to excel in their academic
performance at their respective schools, a Children's Education
Award is conferred on the children who score a minimum of eighty
percent marks in their final examinations, every year.
A three member Awards Committee, constituted to look at the
applications in terms of the eligibility criteria, selects these
award-winning children. The Award was constituted in 2004. The
awards are given for four different categories, according to grade
levels- category 'A' is for those in Classes one to five, category 'B'
for Children in classes six to nine, category 'C' for those in Class
ten and '0' for students of Class twelve. Based on the best academic
performance, one child in each category is given an award, which
carries a cash prize, a trophy and a certificate.
Award
winners
with Mr.A.R.Nanda,
The winners of the Award for the academic year 2005-2006 for Executive Director, PH
category 'A' are Pratyush Ramesh, son of Mrs Prema Ramesh with
97.2% marks, Aakash Rawat, son of Mr. Mohan Singh Rawat with an A+ (a score of over 90%) and Harikrishnan, son of
Mr. P.Narayanan with 92.83 % marks. Each of the three children received a cash award of Rs. 1000, a certificate of merit and
a trophy. The other children who received awards in this category with more than 80% marks were Urvashi Paul, daughter of
Mr.P.K.Paul, Nishtha Neogi, daughter of Dr.Sharmila Neogi and Amrutha. S.Nair, daughter of Mrs.Usha Nair. A certificate of
merit, a trophy and a gift were presented to these children.
Master. V.Satyanarayanan, son of Mr. K.Venkatachalam was selected for the award under category B. He scored 95.8%
marks. A cash award of Rs.2000, a certificate of merit and a trophy for excellence in academics were presented to him.
This year there were no applications for the other award categories.
The awards were given away by the Executive Director, PFI at a function at the Foundation.
We wish the children of the staff all the very best in their academic pursuits in future.
The Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health (APCRSH) is organized every alternate year
through a consortium of organizations working on the issue of Reproductive and Sexual Health. Three such
conferences have been held in the past. The 1st APCRSH was held at Manila, Philippines in February 2001, the 2nd
APCRSH was held at Bangkok, Thailand in October 2003 while third APCRSH took place in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia in 2005. India would be hosting the Fourth Asia-Pacific Conference on Sexual and Reproductive Health
and Rights (APCRSH) on October 29-31, 2007 at Hyderabad.
For details, the conference secretariat may be contacted, the coordinates of which are:
Mr. R.N. Singh/Ms. Franscesca Barolo
Tel Nos: 9971292701/702
(New Delhi) Email: 4thapcrsh@gmail.com
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PopJOcus
Advisor, Group Meeting on Communitv Action -
National Rural Health Mission
The fifth meeting of the Advisory
Group on Community Action
(AGCA) - National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM) was organized on
December 20, 2006 at the PFI.
Ms. S. Jalaja, Mission Director, NRHM
participated at the meeting.
The draft tools and guidelines,
prepared by the sub-committee
consisting of Dr Abhijit Das, Dr Abhay
Shukla and Dr Narendra Gupta, for the
pilot phase of implementing
community monitoring of NRHM were
discussed at the meeting and
recommendations
were made to
finalize the tools and guidelines by
January 15, 2007 based on the
suggestions made by the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare for the
framework.
The states to be taken up in the pilot
phase are Assam, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and
Tamil Nadu. In each of these states, a
state mentoring team including one
or more AGCA members, State
Government representatives,
representatives of State level NGO
coalitions/NGOs with experience
of health rights and monitoring
work and Zila Panchayat members
would be constituted at the state
level wherein the PFI would host
the national secretariat for
community action including
developing and hosting a website
for the same.
The sixth meeting of the NRHM
Advisory Group on Community
Action would be held on February
24, 2007 at the PFI. It was
proposed that the State Health
Secretaries/State Mission Directors
would be invited from the above
eight states to discuss the concept
of community monitoring and the
state level plans along with the tools
and training curriculum developed
by the Group for the pilot phase of
community monitoring.
From the Executive Director's Diarv ...
• Mr. A.R Nanda, Executive Director (ED) was invited by the National Institute of
Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi to inaugurate a training course on "Role of
NGOs in NRHM" on October 3, 2006 at the Institute.
• The ED participated at the inaugural meeting of the India Healthcare Training Think-
Tank at Pune. The meeting, which took place on October 4, 2006 was jointly
organized by Sullivan EurAsia (part of The Sullivan University System, USA) and
Casp-PLAN, Pune.
• On October 10, 2006 at the Indian Council of MedicalResearch New Delhi, the ED
chaired the National Resource Mobilization Committee of the International
Conference 'Microbicides 2008'.
• The Population Council organized a meeting on Programming for Young People -
New Evidence on Young People's Situation and Needs, on 12-13 Oct. 2006 at the
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The ED was invited to moderate a session on
"Understanding the Diversity of Sexual Experience: Fostering Safety and SelfEfficacy"
at the meeting.
• The ED was invited to participate at a two day meeting on "Reducing Maternal
Mortality and Morbidity: Strategies for the Future" on 17th October, 2006 at the
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The meeting was organized by the MacArthur
Foundation.
• The Institute of Health Management, Pachod organized a workshop on "HN / AIDS
Workplace Policy for the NGO Sector" at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on
November 2-3, 2006. The workshop was co-sponsored by the ICCO, Netherlands
& the Population Foundation of India, New Delhi.
• The ED was invited to chair a workshop on "The Cost of Low Birth Weight in India"
at New Delhi. The workshop was jointly organized by the Department of Paediatrics,
Sunderlal Jain Hospital, the Department of Cardiology, AllIndia Institute of Medical
Sciences and the Department of Paediatrics & ClinicalEpidemiology,Sitaram Bhartia
Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi.
• As member of the Board of Directors of Ipas, the ED participated at a meeting of
the Board at Chapel Hill, USA on December 7-9, 2006.
• The Executive Director was invited by The David and LucilePackard Foundation to
take part at the India Advisory Group Meeting on December 17-19, 2006 at Goa.
• Mr A R Nanda was invited as a speaker to a function at which Prof. M K Premi's
book 'Population of India in the New Millennium: Census 2001' was released.
The function was organized by the National Book Trust of India.
We welcome ...
Ms Sona Sharma who
has joined the PFI as
Joint Director, Advocacy
& Communication
in
December 2006. Prior to
joining PFI Ms. Sharma
was with the Johns Hopkins University
- Centre for Communication Programs
(JHU-CCP),
providing technical
assistance on communication for the
Innovative Family Planning Services
(IFPS) II, a project promoting
reproductive health services.
Mr. A. Ramanathan
who joined the Foundation
in November
2006
as Accounts Assistant
(Projects) in the Accounts
Department. Prior to this
he was working with GENPACT, a BPO
Division of General Electric.
Mr. Prasad Kumar, who has joined the
Global Fund Project team as Assistant
State Coordinator (Karnataka State) in
October 2006.
Ms. Nidhi, M&E Associate working
with the Global Fund Project unit at the
PH, in November 2006.
Editorial Guidance
Mr A.R. Nanda
Editor
Ms A. Banerji
Editorial Committee
Ms Usha Rai
Dr Almas Ali
Dr Lalitendu Jagatdeb
Dr Kumudha Aroldas
Ms Sona Sharma
Published by
Population Foundation of India
B-28, Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi-110016, India
Tel: 91-11-42899770, 42899771
Fax: 91-11-26852766
e-mail: popfound@sify.com
website: www.popfound.org