Focus 2005 April -June English :: PFI Publication :: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CENTRE PORTAL, POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA

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Focus 2005 April -June English

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2 Pages 11-20

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Focus 2005 April -June English

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Discrimination against women

exists in every sphere and strata

of society. This discrimination

however takes on an extreme, blatant

and violent form when the female is

eliminated either before or after she

is born, merely on account of her

gender. Female foeticide refers to a

practice where the female foetuses

are selectively eliminated after pre-

natal sex determination, thus avoiding

the birth of girls. The issue cannot be

dealt with in isolation and needs to

be seen in a broad perspective. It is

an issue that requires both urgent and

large scale action - action not only

focused on alleviating the symptoms,

but on shaking fundamental attitudes,

constructed and reinforced over

centuries.

Historically Delhi was the first place

where the foetal sex determination

facility was available in India.

The child sex ratios have been falling

over, the last thirty years in Delhi.

To draw attention to the gruesome

forms of gender discrimination like

sex selection and sex selective

abortion, the Population Foundation

of India has been carrying out, with

the support from PLAN International,

India, a time bound Intensive

Advocacy Campaign against pre-birth

elimination of females in all the nine

districts of Delhi, through April, May,

. June and July,2005, to coincide with

the summer vacations. The campaign

attempts to raise awareness among

students, teachers and adolescents/

out-of-school youth, on sex deter-

mination and sex selective abortion,

as they have the potential to become

. change agents. Some of the major

objectives of the campaign are to

create awareness about the social

implications of sex selection, to use

effective"means of communication to

generate awareness and make the

Celebradnu the Girl Child

Budding artistes of the

Odissi dance troupe

issue of 'save the girl

child' a visible one

and to sensitize

communities

and

especially youth about·

the issue of increase in

pre-natal sex deter-

mination and sex

selective abortions.

-The organizations

ir:J.ljolvedin the imple~

mentatIOn at this campaign -are the

Centre for Women's Development

Studies (CWDS) along with CAPF

(Campaign against Pre-birth

Elimination of Females), Aravali Vikas

Sangathan (Ar;vis), Datamation

Consultants andUnnati Features.

While CWDS/CAPF are carrying out

actiyities inth~eeaistricfs of Delhi,

Aravis is working in six districts of the

State. The campaign is expected to

be completed by the end of July,

2005.

-Some of the interesting act~vities of

the campaign are screening of.·a

teleserial 'Aatmajaa' (directed by

Mr Neelmadhav Panda of· Eleanora

Images) in ten slums in each of the

nine districts of Delhi, an Odissi dance

performance atthe India InternationaL

.Centre, by Ms. Madhumita Raut and

Celebrating the Girl Child - 1

The Global Fund Fourth Round HIV/ AIDS

Project - An Update - 3

Let's Save the Girl Child - 4

Dare to Dream - The Story of Anwari - 5

Media Coverage of HIV / AIDS

goes under the Microscope - 5

Snapshots n' Snippets - 6

Promoting Safe Abortion Services

through the Public Health System -

A National Consultation - B

Improving Reproductive Health and

Safe Motherhood in Rajasthan - 9

The Regional Resource Centre -

In a rewed up mode - 9

Reducing maternal mortality in Orissa - 10

Youth Empowerment - 11

Forthcoming Events - 12

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fOcus

To strengthen the efforts of the Government in the delivery

of health care, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

playa major role. NGOs have a definite advantage in health

care as they are better acquainted with the social, cultural and

economic realities of the population and have better links with

the local community and the marginalized people. To achieve

optimal results the NGOs should complement and supplement

the government health infrastructure. In fact, it is now a reality

that NGOs are an integral part of health care delivery.

The National Population Policy (NPP), 2000, identified

partnership with NGOs as a key strategic theme. The action

plan of the NPP also contains the modalities of the collaboration.

The Central Government envisages collaboration with NGOs

through state governments.

There are many schemes of the Government of India, to involve

NGOs in various programmes. The Department of Family

Welfare in the ninth Five Year Plan introduced the Mother NGO

(MNGO) scheme under the Reproductive and Child Health

Programme. Under this scheme, the Department of Family

Welfare identified and approved grants to selected NGOs called

'Mother NGOs' in allocated districts. These MNGOs then gave

grants to smaller NGO's called 'Field NGOs' (FNGOs) in the

allocated areas. The grants were meant to be used for promoting

the goals and objectives of the Reproductive and Child Health

(RCH) Programme. The basic philosophy of this scheme has

been of nurturing and capacity building. The broad objectives of

the scheme were:

• To address the gaps in information or RCH services in the

project area;

• To build strong institutional capacity at the state, district and

field levels;

• Advocacy and awareness generation.

In keeping with the philosophy of capacity building four NGOs

of national repute were identified as Regional Resource Centres

(RRCs)to provide technical support to the MNGOs, since MNGOs

have limited expertise in the health sector.

The experiences of the past years indicated that there was a

need to modify the existing guidelines of the scheme in terms of

decentralization, simplification of fund disbursal process,

rationalization of jurisdiction and interface with local government

bodies. It was also found that involving the NGOs in service

delivery and addressing cross cutting issues of gender in the RCH

service areas would be needed to make the programme more

effective and user friendly.

The Population Foundation of India have been playing an

important role in providing technical support for NGO capacity

enhancement, documentation of best practices, induction and

in-service training, liaison with the state governments, updating

database on RCH issues and development of Management

Information Systems.

After the revision of the guidelines the number of RRCs has

been increased from four to ten. The Population Foundation of

India has been selected as a Regional Resource Centre for Bihar

and Chattisgarh. It is synergizing all its programmes on Bihar

and Chattisgarh, with the Regional Resource Centre to address

Reproductive and Child Health issues from policy advocacy to

service delivery.

her troupe, on May 15, 2005 - the performance

endeavored to draw attention to the heinous forms

of gender discrimination like sex selection and sex

selective abortion, which has led to a dismal decline

in the child sex ratio - , mobilization of youth in

. each district to undertake awareness programmes,

an online essay competition for college students, a

. youth news reporters competition, a SCh09l

cal1}pa\\gn, paper presentation for college students,

a hundred day road show carrying audio visual

equipment arid street theatre teams, a school

campaign and an event titled 'Nirali" at Dilli Haat,

where an exhibition of posters ,handicrafts and

.paintings and dance performances based on the

theme of the project , set up by little girls from the

~Kishori Sangathan' of CAPF drew interested

crowds-despite the scorching heat and dust of June:-

Population, Health, Gender

Issues and The Media

The Press Institute of India and the Population

Foundation of India together carried out an

orientation programme for journalists, in

Delhi on April 4, 2005. Participants

represented national dailies, students of mass

communication and journalism and feature

services. Mr. P.K. Hota, Secretary, Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare was the Chief Guest

at the function. The programme was organized

to help the media to understand the population

and RCH concerns in the framework of

national policies and programmes and to

motivate them to highlight the issues related

to population development and Reproductive

and Child Health, in a consistent manner.

The inaugural address was delivered by the

Secretary, Health and Family Welfare,

Government of India. The other speakers

at the programme were Dr. Abhijit Das of

Sahayog, Lucknow, Ms. Kamayani Bali, from

CEHAT and Ms. Suman Parashar from the

office of the Registrar General of India.

The programme sessions were interactive and

led to a good deal of debate and discussion.

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The Global Fund Fourlh Round III/liDS Project -II Update

The Population Foundation of

India (PFI)leads a consortium of

civil society organizations in

implementing a project on 'Access

to Care and Treatment' (ACT) for

HIV/AIDS. The project, funded by

the Global Fund, is all about providing

care and support to people livingwith

HIV/AIDS, who are put on

antiretroviral treatment in the six high

prevalence states - Tamil Nadu,

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra

Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. The

other organizations of the consortium

are Engender Health, Indian Network

of Positive People (INP+), Freedom

Foundation and the Confederation of

Indian Industry (CU).Too l*Ogramme

_(whichstarted in April, 2005) involves

capacity building of non

governmental organizations (NGOs),

setting up of District Level Networks

(DLNs), setting up of Treatment

Counseling Centres (TCCs), advocacy

with the corporate sector and

operations research.

Staff at the Project Management Unit

at PFI as well as at the state units are

on board and meetings have been

held with the State AIDS Control

Societies (SACS) in the six states, to

set up the SACS Coordination

Committees. A Coordination

Committee of the National AIDS

Control Society (NACO) has also

been established. _While ten District

Level Networks have been identified,

the process of strengthening the·

partnership between the District

Level Networks and the State Level

Networks, of people living with

HIV/AIDS, is on. A Comprehensive

Care and Support Centre is in the

process of being set up at Guntur in

Andhra Pra:desh.

The project has a long list of things

to do which includes counseling and

peer support at the antiretroviral

treatment centres, referrals at the

District Level Networks, setting up of

care centres, advocacy "and Focus

Group Discussions with the corporate

sector, for. coming up with

Antiretroviral Treatment (ART)

centres, putting in place Management

Information Systems and setting up

a Te.chnical Advisory Team for

carrying out operations research

studies.

The Project Advisory Board is the

main advisory body for the project.

It provides necessary services/

guidelines for the project. It reviews

the progress of the project from time

to time. Th-e members of the Board

include exp'€rts in the area of HN /

AIDS, members of the core partner

organizations and members of the

Governing Board of PH

The Population Foundation of India extends a warm welcome to all those who have"joined as part of the team set up to

work on the Global Fund Fourth Round HIV/ AIDS Project.

Dr. Mary Verghese MBBS, MS, has

joined as the Project Director. With

experience in public health and clinical

practice, she also brings with her

experience in strategic policy formulation,

programme

development

and

management support to public and private

initiatives at various levels.

Mr. S. Vijayakumar is a Fellow Member

of the Institute of Chartered Accountants

and an Associate Member of the Institute

of Cost and Works Accountants. With over

twenty nine years of experience in the

public and private sectors, he is the Grants

Manager for the project.

Mr. Kumar Chaitanya has taken charge

as the Accounts Officer. An Associate

Member of the Institute of Chartered

Accounts, he is an experienced

professional, specializing in Micro Finance.

Ms. Rashmi Sharma, Programme

Associate, is a social scientist and has a

five year experience of working in the area

of HIV/ AIDS and of working on issues

related to high-risk groups.

Dr. Phanindra Babu Nukella has a PhD

degree in Population Sciences, from the

International Institute for Population

Sciences, Mumbai. On board as the

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)Manager,

he brings with him four and a half years of

work experience in the area of reproductive

health, particularly family planning and HIV/ AIDS.

Ms. Aparna G has a post graduate degree

in Applied Statistics from Osmania

University, Hyderabad and a year's

experience of working in the field of

HIV / AIDS at the Karnataka AIDS

Prevention Society, Bangalore.

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lers Save the GirlChild

To sensitize society at large on the

issue of declining child sex ratio

and create a positive environment

towards the rights of the girl child for

survival and development, PFI has

been conducting workshops in

different states for Members of the

Legislative Assembly (MLAs), the

Corporate Sector, the media and

teachers.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

play an important role in India's

development process. Regular

interaction with people of their

constituencies and awareness of the

socio- cultural ethos empowers them

to be effective agents of change. Their

role in development .programmes

related to various social issues is of

paramountimportance. The MLAs of

the southern state of Andhra Pradesh

_were invited to participate at an

-advocacy workshop on the issue of

Population and Development:

Gender Balance and importance of

Universal Birth Registration, on

May 19,2005 at Hyderabad.

.' Dr.Geetha Reddy, Honorable

Minister ot Tourism and Sugar,

Government of Andhra Pradesh,

graced the event as Chief Guest. We

hope that the event would have a

trickle down effect in the sense that

the MLA's who participated at the

-workshop would in turn, educate the

'people in their respective

constituencies. The recommenda-

tions that emerged out of the

~ini~

BOMBAY CHAM9fl

Bombay Chamber

of Commerce @ Indu&l)'

fbcus

Pia ••

•••••.

C1fit

Plan India

workshop were encouraging, as the

group felt that not only should similar

workshops be held on a regular basis

in the State, but that such advocacy

wGrkshops should be organized at the

village level, where 'mahila mandals'

_and 'Panchayat' couJd be involved.

Teachers can be called one of the

. categories of people who are the

architects of the future- they play a

very crucial role in shaping the

persoRality. and tAe minds of the

future generation. A workshop was

conducted at Hyderabad for school

teachers The President of the Indian

Medical Association, Hyderabad City,

Dr. P. Shreelatha, was the Guest of

Honour on the occasion. Teachers

were briefed on the' Pre Natal

Diagnostics Techniques (PNDT) Act.

Open discussion brought out the

general feeling that sensitization

of children to female foeticide

and related issues

should begin

at an early age -

perhaps from

Class

Eight

onwards. The

periodic Parent-

Teacher meetings

could also serve

as a forum for

this orientation,

involving children.

School children

could be en-

couraged to use

this critical issue as

a subject matter in

writing essays,

plays and extra curricular activities.

These and other useful recommenda-

tions were made at the workshop.

The Corporate sector has a we.!I

defined role too, in mitigating the.

extent of the problem of pre birth sex

selection. Its role in social

development cannot be ignored .

According to the 2001 Census, the

Child Sex Ratio in Maharashtra is

nine hundred and thirteen girls per

thousand boys. It was in Mumbai that

'. PFl~in collaboration with the Bombay

Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(BCC!) organized an advocacy

workshop on 'The role of industry in

prevention of female foeticide' on

April 7, 2005, which also happened

to be the World Health Day.

The Government of Maharashtra was

represented by Ms Anna Dani,

Principal Secretary, Health and

Family Welfare, who was the

Chief Guest at the workshop.

Mr Arun Bhende, Chief Executive

Officer, Dhirubhai Ambani

Foundation, Mr.J. K. Banthia, former

Registrar General and Census

Commissioner of India and

Dr. Kalpana Apte, Director, Training,

Family Planning Association of India,

were among those who participated

at the workshop. The workshop

brought out a realization that the

corporate sector could use their

resources and together with

government organizations and non

governmental organizations initiate

and carry out mass media campaigns

against this heinous crime of female

foeticide.

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Dare to Dream - Thll Slo" 01AIIwari

fbcus

The Tata Chemicals Society for

Rural Development (TCSRD) is

a unit of the Tata Chemicals factory

in the Badayun district of Uttar_

Pradesh (UP). Based at a village called

Babrala .. The Society has been

involved in several development

activities in the rural areas in UP. An

Intensive Family Welfare Project, a

crop diversification programme and

Self Help Groups are presently

functioning successfully in Babrala.

The Intensive Family Welfare Project

is being implemented in collaboration

with the Population Foundation of

India. Building awareness on

population issues, maternal and infant

mortality and chi[a ca're in Gunnour

block of Badayun district, are the

objectives of the project. As a part of-

the project, a team comprising a

doctor, a nurse and a few health

workers visit the villages and provide

prophylactic and curative treatment

for.ailments, ante natal and postnatal

care, vaccination and counseling

" services fo! family pl~nning ..

It was in a yillage called Daroli, 'about

twenty five kilometers from the

Gunnour block headquarters that the

team got in touch with a young lady

named Anwari. Hailing from a village

in Bihar, she was barely out of her

teens when she was married to a man

who belonged to a low socio~

economic stratum. Thankfully she had

completed her primary education and

thus was not completely illiterate,

Saddled with four pregnancies in

quick succession, there being hardly

a year's gap between the third

and the fourth," Anwari was

understandably, not in the pink of

health. When the project team

contacted her, she was into her fourth

pregnancy and suffering from severe

anaemia. She was very apprehensive

and reluctant to undergo an antenatal

check up, initially.The team persisted

in their efforts- they went on with

dogged determination and their

persistence paid off in the end.

Throughout her pregnancy, Anwari

was given medical attention and

counseling on safe delivery and

. proper diet. She became enthused

enough to participate at regular

meetings and even motivated other

women for check ups and to see video

films on health related issues.

Slowly butsufely, Anwari's outlook

and attitude underwent a positive

change and her life was transformed,

beyond belief. Soon after she

delivered her fourth child, she decided

to take the initiative of being in control

of her personal life. She contacted the

staff at the mobile clinic and sought

their help 'in planning her family.

As sterilization was not a viable option

because of familialconsiderations, she

was given advice on other methods

of contraception. She chose the Intra'

Uterine DeviCeinsertion, and despite

experiencing some discomfort in the

beginning, she continued using it.

Once a depressed, harassed and

hapless human being who was

subjected to a series of childbirths

engulfing her life completely and

draining her of all her energy and

sound health, Anwari is now a

confident woman, in control of her -

life. She is motivated enough to plan

the future for her family, and in turn

motivate others by assisting the

Aanganwadi Worker. She dares to

. dream about her children being

educated and about the economic

status of her family improving.

She is aware about how to care for

the health o'f her children and

regularly visits the mobile clinic to get

her baby vaccinated. She is, in fact, a

role model in her community, for

women who would like to be

empowered to make a choice with

regard to their reproductive life.

An wari is indeed a woman

reborn!

Media Coverage 01 HIlIAIDS

'-goes under Ibe Microscope

InMay this year a six months

UNDP-supported project 'Impact

of 'media coverage on sti~ma and

discrimination related to HIVIAIDS'

was initiated by the Population

Foundation of India. Veteran

journalist Usna Rai and her colleague

Rimjhim Jain were. brought in to

coordinate the project,

Media has always played a crucial role

in shaping peoples' responses to the

HIVIAIDS epidemic. It is seen as the

most useful tool for mitigating stigma

and discrimination. In the past, due

to ignorance, media reports fuelled

stigma and discrimination to the

extent that people were ostracized

and even beaten to death, The media,

however, has tried to educate itself

;;lnd the lEe activities of several

agencies have helped build a more

educated response. A number of

media persons are now trained on the

correct and sensitive use of language

while writing on HIV IAIDS .

However, several reports still do not

show adequate media sensitivity.

So the UNDP project was initiated

to assess awareness levels of

the media and plan the exact

levels at which capacity building is

needed.

The Population Foundation of India

is therefore looking at media

coverage in the states of Karnataka,

Punjab and Uttar Pradesh as well as

the coverage on seven national TV

channels. In depth scanning of forty

two newspapers in English, Hindi,

Kannada, Punjabi and Urdu was

done for one month and two regional

language newspapers were scanned

for five months from January this

year in each of the three states. Each

of the four hundred and forty three

news clippings from the States was

analyzed on the basis of a detailed

questionnaire prepared to bring out

the stigma and discrimination angle

as well the gender perspective and

the overall coverage of the subject in

the. regional newspapers.

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SIIIII'S"OTS

Seminar on need to

check female foeticide

O~,JUl.Y8

Disturbing sex ratio will

spell disaster for society as it

will lead to an increase in

sex-related crimes, homo-

scxualityand spread of sex-

ually transmilled diseases.

The need to stop female

.foetieide was highlighted by .

medical specialists and

expe at the workshop on

the

lion

Earlier, Dr S.N.sharma out·

lined the proeedure lor the.

regislration of pre-natal diag·

nostic facilities. Dr Kshama

Maitrya, Project Director,

TapoV'.lnTrusl, in her presen-

!ation, said enforcement

could not yield to any positive

result if mothers do nottesli-

fy to the crimes.

Dr Susbma Sood, a senior

gynecologist, elaborated on

the provisions of the Acts

dealing with female foeticide

and sex determinalion.

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o""Im""..".."..T,phtse__iI

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In lh~ ..-\\3t'"today Tb18 tJ why.

Women on top

in girlchild's

graveyard d~iaeoll-tno. keep tab on Punjab SCores In Gender Poll,

~~~osticcenw M'rashtra LagsWay Behind T

,.~. s=--e-s-- New DelbJ: IndJa, they sa)',

is a land of amaztne eon·

f-",. '" traeUct.lons. but there must

s';:;c:J~ up or nomie status and. except

for Kerala, even in terms

social standln;:,

IE eENT"~:---

Some or the more sur· ,tional

SCllilig a

prism. findings could be dUet surprise

Cell to

S~ kewed

ex ratio

'0':;" ,

be few contradictions as

bi:tarre u this one-the

state that bas the lowest

thUd sex ratio also turns

stadstk:al qubb. For In·

s~, tbe report acknowl·

edies lhs:t flaures on crime

aillinst 'NOmen-whlch eo-

OSHcelln

10 carry 0

tt!ts that

On dj.

.•• •• '" P

'hhei.:l'...~..~.. .-~ I..

out to have lhe best socW nstltute a part of the social ~~?vel' t e

the.

~ • ~)W)i'-~ •.•

and economic Sl<ltus ror status ranklnp-oouJd be - 41l:UPoJlce

women. At least, that 15 distorted by better report- or NGOs and

.•..

..•.•" •~.~... J

qu;'~Nata.lD':~:;:; ,. what the State Cender 'De- Ine and registration of su- ~nsUture the

velopment Report 2005, ~.

leased by the National fro.

ch cases in $OI1lfsl~tcs tho

an in olhen. However. con,

. ~urebettor Impi

whIch

ducttvtty Councll. says.

slderlnl there are five oth·

.• 0 ~ •

".,. - ..•••. . •••

-..y Punjab has a sex ratio of

S87-1hal's 887 femalts

!or

thousand

malts in the popula·

tion-wb.1ch is the low-

er criteria that eo Into lhe

JIIJnlsto~ Act.· said

at a COnfere UJnani R,a.

l<:f orga"J lice On !he

ommJSSlo~ by the Na.

India

Punjab

HOIyana

1991

o.~

~5'

875

est oC all Indian states.

Haryana. In

the D-6aae Croup, Pun·

jab's neun dips even

lower to 793, by Car the

lowt'$l tor any state.

yet. the NPC"s report

analyses data on • hoSt

or parameters to find

ibat the social and ec0-

nomic status oC v.'QlIlttl

in Punjab is superlor to

that in other states..

The report provides

ei&ht separate aender·

based ranJdngs (or 15

Korala 1

PI.jab 3

Gllaral 4

K.m.tab 5

lI'raslllra 8

• Th~

or Women GUiata,

879

has bee..

• the sex I'Cry sharp DeIhl

" decad~o III JIldia

1,000 bo from 976

er 1.000 Ys In 1991 10

0lll st.a:",YS III2001.

Rajasthan

/o,f

ahatashtra

Tamil Hadu

915

916

946 917

,.alla ~ SUch as Himachal

948 939

he,.. ~ceelIjab, and "No.01........

!lS1 897

10ncIJnics~to sex· ~1",,1lots--

he ratio ;.easlly .. New C!Ja'~

_l.,"::~ , than 900gJrj~ :.~ ~s saId th.).;:eroon Girt)

e@rl tr) ~~l"o••

an lllyen~

hie stiles apart trom AI'

the OYe'I'all rantll1V

'I1leranklnp

on indJeaton •..

•••••.• p/l> ed

lwaItb,

sUtus, labour

pOtlaa,

an4_nblp.

0152

been taken into

by tile NPC ID

., tIlae

'I1le coo

are not pecan.,.

by any means.

tra.. for

1I1Iddl1Il&6lb

._hIe

atlonal c statui and

Women CbI1rI 1shn at the

was rldMt _ pUe in terms

todaJ su,tUS 0 status cl

the ,."...,. IlrliM..IOUtbern

f_wlIl_

sIw1> cledlJlo Intllol -

sttlJbelllcborn •••••• ....,. "",

demo".pblc errec\\5 like

•_••_••• for _ •••0• 1alo.o.-11006 ••

•••••••• ••••••••.• ••• ")w

DoIllI lDday hu 865 JIrls I

1000 bol'S wbllo Olaodlrarh t

""t 845 &f.rls.The mdttics •

show

the problem I. ¥l.

I. the educated upper cl

wttkh ••••.• more acwa to la'

1eC!uloIoI>'.

Two-month-old 1hls ., why aw,

_p_aJcns and IInI"O01'

bab}' girl killed 10 prtYen( l.heA ft'

Cather in W Delhi

IEJIIlI:~li~·\\nil]H83nl'E•!••

Xl:•••.nclhi: Alallrrllll~ • The tIUIer rtmUII

,:fT"n li:Ja1 tn,urudlll'X. In

.ll apll:ln'nl (':L"cn( (CIliate

I absconcfwlg lWtn trltte

~ •• ,,!rado.!" __

:llfnnlicitil~. a :mm killv.e1

h;:i~'o\\"MllOnlh-old b:,!JYbc:·

f·:tt1:'C\\I w;l:.a~ir1.

:\\n Ilm~lo)'~ or • dairy

il1S~fz.lrh. ~mdp(."(30)

'*''''$0lIl_

lIMn Ofdettd

~u.pk:i\\)u$. S:mdecp then

,lltt.-;:(!dl)' 1H1r;ro hiM w\\lI them It"'lt lM h'th)

tbugl:lt'r :Ili\\'l'. Aceord!nB had died in the hoSpit31

to the polkt'. the inddcot and he had to bUry her: 'l1tc

took pLotl.-e 011 the nil;ht of nUlu(>r Willi lhcn rtI1X.II·lOO

'.Iarch :il. The mauc.- to the NNar~th pollee sl ••·

{'Imp 10 liKht after 'hI! IIW'-

(:nl.Jo( $.1nc!ccp', \\\\'!!cC.ioo-

laJnctv,rd.1 t;nmpl:Jint wirh

IhC'ooj\\6 no Monday night.

l.ksvhe rcprated r.Jid4.

the t:ol)8lvw~: not hl.~n ;tbhl

to un:..-s.t Sundt:ep. H\\! 3j)-

lion.

A" SON Inqul'n' has

:\\1.,..br.tin ordertd into the

inl,;\\dcnt. The police on

Wcdlll'Sda)' surtedd~jllg

the ;u'Cil whert! the hotIr

w-.a buried. The body. how·

tl:..cn·IIU~· ~OI '..,illrl 1:( (~ t."\\'l.'r: W36001 (ountllillllllt,

fact ''':It his In· laws hOld in lht~nl8h(. "h's a large

.lrlflronc.hiNllhe J)OIiC8 lend are. and the d\\KlCina wmir.

ncd, TIw intlUi", into the

COl$',: !"t"\\"l'(l~ on TuesdaY

lh:tt &tIKtecp had buried

w1il1ak" time. AU at~n()bi

arc bel", It\\aCt~ to 1I:th

&uKtcep •• tw can ont)' reU

till" child 111:,11' Kakrolo tht, (:xad spol wht'1"t' fhe

'1r;li1\\if1NoJar~l·h.

lull},)' Wll-~ blU'1ed:' addt:d

""i' j~iJ(1 ten hf1lr.~vn Iht~orrlccr.

.!:ttrh ,1! ,,'Uh lhe child. Attordlng to the COm·

:C' ':111':K"l1:t r•.w.. dayt tat plallll lodgCfl by Gcct3·.

:J .:" :111-1.",•• I hat he 1\\;,1\\ Ill" 1).1r\\:11!!l. lht' lnfMt

""';1$

r, .• dli!d In a ho~mhi\\l fur'

.ll~~~~~ , . ~MII4,:l I:' ~.JII.1 ;\\

bum hi 1I~\\"first M~\\lk of

f('uruarr

lJ.•• r.L!L~V W<o.loI:tv

I .f'> '111 :"~1'}Upilift ",,1

1.8 Page 8

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fbcus

The responsibility of scanning the

newspapers was given - to

Communication for Development

',omodnl Safe abortion Services through the

Public Health SVSlem - A Nadonal Consullatfon

and Learning, Karnataka, Sahayog in

Uttar Pradesh and to Mr Prem Kumar,

the former editor of The Indian

Express,

Chandigarh.

The

monitoring of television channels was

entrusted to the Centre for Media

Studies.

Each year, almost twenty million

unsafe abortions are performed

worldwide - the result? Nearly eighty

thousand maternal deaths arid a mind-

boggling number of disabilities. In

some countries, unsafe abortions are

the most common cause of maternal

UNDP project

death - it is also one of the most easily

was initiated to

preventable and treatable.

assess awareness

To focus on the immense- importance

of structuring the public health system,

levels of the media

and plan the exact levels

at which capacity building

·-is needed.

so that it has inbuilt comprehensive

abortion services, and to highlight the

significance of safe abortion services

to bring down the number of maternal

deaths, the Population Foundation of

India (PH), together with the National

Institute of Health and Family Welfare

Mr.V.S.Chandrashekhar, Country

Director, [pas, and Dr. Narika

Namshum Deputy Commissioner

(RH), Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare, Government of India.

and the international organization

Based on fhe analysis of the media called Ipas,' organized a -national

scan, a manual or resource book is consultation. This consultation on

being prepared for journalists. The Promoting Safe Abortion Services

manual will be divided into three through the Public Health System,

sections - the first being on analysis took place at the Heritage- Village,

of the scanning. The second will be Manesar, (Haryana) on May 26 & 27,

~ the hard core information section on . 2005. The participation- at the

the Economic impact of HIV/ AIDS; - consultation was' representative of

HN and Children; Drugs & Vaccines; .those state ana central government

Government policies and the institutes that impart technical

evolution of the epidemic in India; education and training, individualsand

How to find and write a good organizations working in collaboration

HIV/ AIDS story and Stigma and with the public health -system,

Discrimination. The voices of agehcies directly involved-in pro~iding

HIV positive 'women and ~heir _ safe abortion servjces, national and

- - -perceptions o( the -media will be international- non-governmental

central to the report. The "lastsection organizations and funding agencies.

will deal with Facts and Myths, the Speakers at the consultation included

most frequently asked questions and Dr.N .K.Sethi, Director, National

language that is taboo while writing Institute of Health and Family.Welfare,

on HIV/ AIDS. A list of websites and Dr. B~la. Ganatra f!"om Ipas,

- NGOs and SACS (State-AIDS Control

The consultation was organized with

the objectives of sharing the

experiences of public sector initiatives

in the area of service delivery and to

draw up a set of recommendations,

which could be effectively

implemented and advocated. Those

objectives were achieved through-

group work carried out at the

workshop. The help of experts would'

be sought to prepare a resolution to

incorporate the component of safe

abortion services into the public health

system. We hope that this would then

serve as a yardstick for different states,

thus bringing about uniformity in the

system. An effort towards the _

compilation of the Project

Implementation Plan (PIP) on Safe

Abortion prepared by the different

sfates,.as part of RCH II may be in

the pipeline.

-._Societies) \\A!i1ble provided at the ~ack -

of the book._

-Based on research findings,

workshops are to be held with the

media in the three states in

October and in November there will

be a nation~:tl consultation on the.

- report.

The UNDP as well as NACO have

been showing- a lot of interest In the

project. The findings may be useful

for the formulation of !he National

AIDS CO[ltrol PrograITlme-3. _.

The workshop

in progress

1.9 Page 9

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Improving Reproductive Health and

Sale Motherhood In Rajasthan

With the help of three non

governmental organizations

(NGOs) in Rajasthan, PH has got off

the ground, an initiative on safe

motherhood in sixty two villages in

three districts in the desert state of

Rajasthan. Reaching out to

approximately sixty five thousand

people, the initiative is being

technically supported by Action

Research and Training for Health

(ARTH), based at Udaipur. Social

Work and Environment for Rural

Advancement (SWERA) at Ajmer,

Shikshit Rojgar Kendra Prabandhak

Samiti (SRKPS) at Jhunjhunu and

Shiv Shiksha Samiti (SSS) at Tonk

. are implementing the project. To

improve the quality of reproductive

health (RCH) services in general and

particularly those related to safe

motherhood, the initiative aims at

training and building capacity of

Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs),

Aanganwadi Workers (AWWs),

members of the Panchayati Raj

Institutions (PRIs) and female

members of Self Help Groups. This

project also aims at establishing a

health centre which could cater to

the people in all the villages in the

project areas. A pilot project had

earlier been carried out by ARTH and

using this as a model, each of the

three NGOs is setting up a "Health

Centre" in its project area. Each of

these centres will be looked after by

two nurse midwives who have been

identified by the NGOs. They would

provide services round the clock at the

centres. In fact, they have already

been put on training at ARTH. The

Panchayats, actively involved in the

project have provided space to house

the health centres. To strengthen the

services, a doctor has been assigned

the responsibility of paying a visit to

the centres once every week. In order

to meet the running costs of the health

centres, a subsidized, affordable fee

would bechar~d. It is hoped that

these would become self sufficient in

three years time. The state

government is being involved in the

process and would, it is envisaged,

take care of the procurement of

essential supplies for the health

centres·. Management Information

Systems have been developed by

ARTH, which would be tailored to suit

the needs of the NGOs.

Over and above attending to the

people at the centres, the nurse

midwives would also be visiting people

in the communities on specific days.

The three NGOs have drawn up a list

of all the households in their respective

villages, and a survey to assess the

status of reproductive and child health

of the communities is being planned.

Various activities on Information

Education, Communi-cation (lEC)and

Behaviour Change Communication

(BCe) have begun in some of the

villages.

fbcus

The Regional Resource

Centre-

In a rewed UP mode

The Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare, Government of India, is

currently implementing the RCH

Programme. Several 'Mother Non-

Governmental

Organizations

(MNGOs)in the MNGO scheme of this

programme were found to be lacking

in technical and programme capacity

in implementing RCH interventions.

To bridge this gap, the Ministry had

decided to establish institutions to be

known as 'Regional Resource Centres'

(RRCs), with financial support of

UNFPA. The Population Foundation

of India had been selected to be a

Regional Resource Centre for Bihar

and Chattisgarh. The role of the RRCs

is to provide technical support to

MNGOs for implementation of RCH

initiatives and to enhance the quality

of service delivered by stakeholders.

PH has set up offices at Patna and

Raipur and a technical team is on

board. Discussions and deliberations

are being _ carried· out with

representatives

of the state

governments, some MNGOs as well

as within the organization to improve

the quality of the initiative. The

technical teams participated at a

'Training of Trainers' programme of

MNGO's, which was conducted by the

The Population Foundation of

India had been selected to be a

Regional Resource Centre for

Bihar and Chattisgarh.

Twenty four hour

delivery centre in

Rajasthan

Apex Resource Cell of the

Government of India. The training

programme was conducted at the

International Crops Research Institute

for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

at Hyderabad from 23rd May to 2nd

June, 2005. Earlier in the month of

March this year, a Strategic Planning

Workshop had been held for the

Regional Resource Centres and based

on the inputs received at the

workshop; PFI has developed a

Strategic Planning Document.

1.10 Page 10

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Reducing maternal mortalitv in Orissa

focus

Every minute of every day a

woman dies as a result of

pregnancy or childbirth. The loss per

annum of 500,000 women is mind

boggling. A mat~rnal death is the

outcome of a chain of events and

disadvantages throughout a woman's

life. Every time a woman in the

developing world becomes pregnant,

her risk of dying is ~OO times higher

than the risk run by a woman in the

developed world. In fa€~, while India

accounts for almost 20% of the

world's maternal deaths, within the

country itself, there are great

variations in the numbers of such

deaths. The Population Foundation

of India organized at the state level,.

in Orissa, an advocacy workshop in

Bhubaneswar on April 28 and 29,

2005.

promotion of "safe mother-

hood in Orissa. It was a group

of sixty persons that

participated at the workshop,

representing national. and

international organizations

and the media. Tlie Govern-

ment of Orissa· was repre-

Health experts estimate that life .sented by senior officials -

expectancy could be increased

Mr H.N.Senapati, Principal

measurably if health- promoting

Secretary (Health), Dr. B.K.

decisions

by individuals,

Dash, Director, Family"

communities, health systems and Welfare, Dr. K.S. Ganeshan,

governments r:educed these and . Chief, poliCySuPP9rtandProgramm~

other risks (excerpt from a policy - UnH (PSPU),pr ..B.C. Dash, Director,

." brief of the.Population Referen's:e State Institute: 9f Health and Family

Bureau). The objective of the Welfare, Dr.M.M.Pradhan, Deputy

workshop was exactly that - to create Director, IPDP. Local participants

a supportive policy and an included Mr.Ramanathan, State

environment conducive to the Programme Coordinator, UNFPA,

reduction of maternal mortality and Ori.ssa,· Dr. Saraswati Swain,

State level Advocacy

workshop

Senior officials of the Govt. of Orissa with

Mr. A. R. Nanda, Executive Director, PFI

Dr. S. S. Mohapatra and Dr. Sarojini

Sarangi. The PFI resource team

comprised Mr.A.R.Nanda, Executive

Director, Dr. Almas Ali, Senior

Advisor and Dr.Lalitendu Jagatdeb,

Senior Consultant, Advocacy and

Communications Division.

According to the Census 2001, the Child Sex Ratio in Punjab is around seven hundred and ninety three girls per

thousand boys. This is easily the lowest Child Sex Ratio in India. Since the 1991 Census, there has been a sharp decline

in terms of the Child Sex Ratio in Punjab, with ten out of the seventeen districts, recording a Child Sex Ratio (CSR), of

below eight hundred girls to thousand boys. The available figures on CSR in Punjab speak for themselves on the

magnitude of the problem. It has created an explosive situation, which could have disastrous consequences in the future.

Studies have shown that one of the main reasons for this is preference for a male child because of socio-cultural and

economic reasons, leading to pre-birth sex selection and then elimination of females.

The Population Foundation of India had earlier organized advocacy workshops on the issue of female foeticide with the

corporate sector and the Members of the Legislative Assembly, in Punjab. To take the campaign further into the district

and sub district levels, PR, with the support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has initiated an extensive advocacy campaign on the issue of 'Missing

Girls'in the districts of Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala in Punjab and the districts of Ambala and Kurukshetra in Haryana.

The theme of Missing Girls is an interface between population and gender, as this captures some of the foremost

concerns with regard to population issues, namely, declining child sex ratio, sex selective abortion, the two-child norm

and gender and equity concerns. The one year campaign was launched on 24th June, 2005, in Ambala district,Haryana,

and on 27th June in Fatehgarh district , Punjab. Activities such as focus group discussions, poster competitions, rallies,

street plays and advocacy workshops with the appropriate authorities have been planned for the implementation of the

campaign.

2 Pages 11-20

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2.1 Page 11

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-Youth Empowenollt

fbcus

The National Youth Policy is based on the recognition

of the contribution that the youth can, and should

make, to the growth and well being of the community.

The thrust of the Policy centres around "Youth

Empowerment" in different spheres of national life. The

policy recognizes that the key sectors of concern for the

youth are Education, Training and Employment, Health

and Family Welfare, Preservation of Environment, Ecology

and Wild Life, Recreation and Sports, Arts and Culture,

Science and Technology and Civics and Good Citizenship.

To develop and finalize a Plan of Action, a sub committee

has been constituted for each of these eight groups. Each

group would give special focus to issues relating to identified

priority targets while developing their respective chapter

for Action Plan. Mr A.R.Nanda, Executive Director,

Population Foundation of India (PH) had been made the

Chairperson of the Sub-Committee of the Health and Family

Welfare sector. The Sub-Committee had two meetings at

PH, on May 9 and June 23, 2005.The draft plan has been

finalized and submitted to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and

Sports, Government of India.

The 10th International Women & Health Meeting (IWHM)

is scheduled to be held at New Delhi on September 21-25, 2005

The IWHM has its roots in the global women's movement and includes a wide range of organizations,

networks and grassroots women's groups. The 10th IWHM will mark nearly two and a half decades

of the global feminist solidarity on issues that impinge on the health and well being of women. It

seeks to highlight politics, policies and issues that have an adverse effect on women's health and

simultaneously bring out the linkages and interconnections of these seemingly disparate phenomena.

The title of the theme of the meeting is "Health Rights, Women's Lives: Challenges & Strategies

for Movement Building". As the title suggests, the attempt is to reiterate the holistic concept of

health and to strengthen the claim for healthcare and health as a justiciable right for all the people.

The IWHM has Mr AR.Nanda, Executive Director, PR, as one of its National Advisors.

For more information the Secretariat can be contacted, the coordinates of which are as below:

Secretariat, 10 IWHM, India

C/o Sarna-Resource Group for Women & Health

G-19, 2nd Roor, Saket, New Delhi 110017

Telephone: 55637632, 55637633

Website: www.l0iwhmindia.org

News trim our DOCUMENTATION CENTRE _ .

. The Documentation Centre at PH has an eclectic and good collection of around

seven thousand books. It is well stocked with books on HIV/ AIDS, Adolescent

issues, Reproductive and Child Health, Female Foeticide, Demography,

Advocacy and Communication and on many other issues related to Population.

The Centre also subscribes to a large number of journals, magazines and news

bulletins. It is equipped with posters and more than a hundred video films.

. The use of a'CDS/lSIS package makes easy retrieval, "internal networking and

access to information, very convenient. The centre cottld also be contacted on

telephone and through Email, at the numbers below:

NEW TELEPHONE

NUMBERS

AT PFI

We would like to inform

our readers that our

telephone numbers have

changed.

The new telephone

numbers are:

52899770

52899771

2.2 Page 12

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Forthcomlnl hints

• National Consultation on Quality of Care arid Missing Girls on July7, 2005

• World Population Day event on the eve of World Population Day on July 8, 2005

• The inaugural event of the Regional Resource Centre and the advocacy

initiative on Young Adults Reproductive and Sexual Health (YARSH) at Patna,

Bihar on July 12, 2005

• Workshop on Pre-birth Elimination of Females for members of the corporate

sector, at Lucknow,Uttar Pradesh on July 15, 2005

• Workshop on Pre-birth Elimination of Females for Members of the ~egislative

Assembly at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on July 20, 2005

• Events scheduled to be held in Chattisgarh

(a) A 'Mother NGO' (MNGO) consultative meeting on 29th August, 2005

(b)The inaugural event of the Regional Resource Centre, Chattisgarh followed

by a Government! Non Governmental Organization (GO/NGO) workshop

on 30th August, 2005

Guidelines' from 31st July to 9th August, 2()05

• Events scheduled to be he- ld in Patn.a

(a) A baseline survey training workshop for MNGOs from 11th to 13th August, 2005

(b)A GO/NGO workshop on 18th September, 2005

Guidelines' from 19th to 28th September, 2005

fbcus

We welcome ...

Ms Usha Rai is a veteran journalist and

has been associated with leading national

dailies and journals. She was Deputy

Director, Press Institute of India and was

looking after a project on Population,

Development and Gender, supported by

the UNFPA and the Ministry of Health,

Government of India. She joined PFI in

May 2005, as a National Fellow, and is

coordinating a project on 'Impact of

media coverage on stigma and

discrimination related to HIV/ AIDS' .

Ms Rimjhim Jain is a journalist,

who was working at the Press Institute

of India. In addition to her work as a

journalist, she was also looking after web

related work at the Institute.

She is assisting in the coordination of

the project on 'Impact of media coverage

on stigma and discrimination related to

HIV/AIDS'.

We are sorry to share the sad news about the demise of Mrs Avabai 8

Wadia and Ms Viji Srinivasan. We pray for the peace of the departed souls.

Mrs Avabai Wadia, throughout her life, dedicated her

extraordinary talent, vision and compassion to causes which are

important for the betterment of mankind .. She was a founder

member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation

(IPPA and served as its the President from 1983 to 1989. During

her tenure as President, the IPPF won the UN Population Award

and the Third World Prize as well as the WHO Gold Medal for

its activities. Mrs Wadia was a Founder Member of The Family

Planning Association of India (FPADas well as its President for several years. As

President of the IPPF and the FPAI she had wholeheartedly devoted herself to

issues such as gender equity and justice, the educational and economic

empowerment of women, the care of children and above all population

stabilization. She passed away on World Population Day, on 11 July, 2005. She

had contributed immensely to the initiation and development of the family planning

movement in India and is known far and wide for her pioneering work in

population, family life, sex education for young people, women's development

programmes and to the establishment of a network of Non-Governmental

Organizations, to create a strong forum for family planning. In fact, she was

known as the 'Mother of Family Planning' in India. In recognition of her services

in the areas of family planning and social welfare, the Government of India

conferred on her the prestigious Padma Shri in 1971 and the Padma Bhushan in

1981. Mrs Avabai Wadia had received several other awards such as the Sanjay

Gandhi Award for Science & Technology in 1983, the Woman of the Year Award

in 1985, Citizen of Bombay in 1986 and the MaMa Shiromani Award in 1990.She

was included among the Top One Hundred' outstanding personalities (selected

by the 'Earth Times' New York), who had a worldwide influence on matters

affected the environment and sustainable development. Mrs Wadia joined the

Governing Board of PH in September 1976 and also served the Foundation as a

Member, Holding Trustees, since its formation. She played a key role in the

deliberations of the Governing Board of the Foundation, lending to it, vision,to

guide it in its efforts on sustainable population strategies.

The Population Foundation of India pays her a glorious tribute.

Ms Viji Srinivasan passed away on June 13, 2005 leaving

behind an irreplaceable void in the field of development.

An outstanding and dedicated activist, Ms. Srinivasan was the

Founder and Managing Director, Adithi, working in Bihar for

the past three decades. Her name was synonymous with Bihar's

many causes and till her death she remained one of the most

steadfast champions of bringing about positive change in the

state. PH was associated with Adithi, which became its regional training and

resource centre in Bihar.

We bade farewell to

Dr B P Thiagarajan, Joint Director

(Monitoring and Evaluation)

left PH on 31st May, 2005

to join Project Concern International,

New Delhi. He worked with the

Foundation for almost four years.

We wish him all success in his

new assignment

~.-

Editorial Guidance

Mr A.R. Nanda

Editor

Ms A. Banerji

Editorial Committee

Ms Usha Rai

Dr Almas Ali

Dr Lalitendu Jagatdeb

Dr Kumudha Aroldas

Published by

Population Foundation of India

8-28, Qutab Institutional Area

New Delhi-110016, India

Tel: 91-11-52899770, 52899771

Fax: 91-11-26852766

e-mail: popfound@sify.com

website: www.popfound.org

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