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Focus 2000 July - September English |
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Focus Volume XIVNO.3
July-September 2000
POPULATION ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT
Executive Director Dr K Srinivasan speaking at the Press Conference to announce the JRD Tata Awards. Others are:
Ms Justice Leila Seth, Chairperson of the Awards Committee (centre) and Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman, PFI.
Second JRD Tata Awards for Population and Reproductive Health
Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Alappuzha and Jorhat are Winners
The state of Tamil Nadu and
districts of Chennai, Alappuzha
and Jorhat have been awarded
the second JRD Tata Award for
excellence in Reproductive Health and
Population Programmes, 2000. The
awards were announced at a Press
Conference on July 28, 2000 in New
Delhi by Ms Justice Leila Seth,
Chairperson of the Awards Committee.
A former Chief Justice of Himachal
Pradesh and Member, Law Commi-
ssion, Justice Leila Seth is a member
of the Governing Board of PFI.
Chairman of PFI, Dr Bharat Ram and
Executive Director, Dr K Srinivasan
also addressed the conference.
Addressing the reporters, Justice
Leila Seth said the selection of the
State level award has been made on
the basis of a set of ni ne indicators
On Other Pages
Mobile Clinic to Provide Reproductive Health Services
2
Workshop on NGOs' Role in Reproductive Health
3
Satellite TV to Educate Panchayat Members
5
Haryana Government Supports Panchayati Raj Project
7
Community Radio to Educate Panchayat Members
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Concerted Efforts Needed
to Reduce Mortality, Fertility
The latest set of data compiled by the
National Family Health Survey (II) and the
Reproductive and Health Surveys
conducted during 1998-99 reveal that the
morbidity and mortality conditions among
women associated with early marriage, poorly
spaced and frequent pregnancies and child births
are quite high though the conditions seem to be
somewhat improving in recent years. The
mortality among children still remains
unacceptably high. The infant mortality rate in
1998 was 72, infant deaths per 1000 live births
ranging from a high of 98 in Orissa to a low of 16
in Kerala. The proportion of births attended to
by health professionals at the time of delivery
was only 42.5% in the co<Jntryas a whole ranging
from 95% in Kerala to less than 30% in the
states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar. The percentage of ever married women
with anaemia is as high as 52 in the country as a
whole, ranging from a low of 23% in Kerala to
over 60% in Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal,
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya
and Sikkim. The percentage of children below
three years of age with anaemia was also very
high at 74% ranging from a low 44% in Kerala
to over 75% in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Arunachal
Pradesh, Sikkim and Maharshtra. It is ironical
that the states of Punjab and Maharashtra with
high per capita incomes and agricultural
production have such high levels of anaemia
among children. The goal of Health for All to be
achieved by 2000 set in 1983 in the National
Health Policy seems to have been missed by a
long shot.
India was the first country to launch an official
programme of family planning as early as 1952
as a part of its first five-year plan and it has
increased its investments in the programme from
plan to plan. Until March 1998, Rs 17,000 crores
have been spent. Further, the impact of these
programmes on fertility seems to be far lower
than expected. The demographic goal of
achieving Crude Birth Rate of 25 in the country
as a whole was set even in 1962 as a part of the
third five year plan to be achieved by 1972.
This goal is not realised even by year 2000.
The National Population Policy 2000 recently
announced by the Government has set the
ambitious goals of reaching replacement level
of fertility, or a total fertility rate of 2.1 and infant
mortality rate of 30 by the year 2010. However,
if the trends of fertility and mortality experienced
in the past decade is any indication of the future,
these goals may also remain pipe dreams.
Concerted steps are urgently called for hastening
the pace of mortality and fertility decline at
national and state level if the newly set national
goals are to be achieved.
-- K}jl/o ...•.••.k
(Dr. K Srinivasan)
Mobile Clinic to Provide Reproductive and
Child Health Services in Delhi Slums
Based on the recommenda-
tions of the workshop on
'NGOs Role in Reproductive
medical supplies. SPYM has been
assigned the responsibility of overall
maintenance of the Van with technical
and Child Health Programmes'
guidance from PFI. Formation of Self
organised by PFI in New Delhi on Help Groups is also an important
July 13-14, 2000, the Foundation
component other than service
has decided to start a mobile delivery and this will be initiated in
approach for delivering reproductive
all areas.
and child health services including
maternal and child health care, The Van will provide the following
treatment
of RTIjSTD, family services : contraceptive promotion,
planning services including Copper including insertion of copper T, ante-
T insertions. The programme will be natal and post-natal care, child care
implemented through three NGOs i.e. including immunisation, RTI and STD
Society for the Promotion of Youth treatment,
family planning
and Masses (SPYM), PRAYATN and counselling and IEC activities.
PMR Research Centre.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has agreed
PFI has purchased a Swaraj Mazda to provide free referral services to
mobile van with necessary
the patients referred to them by PFI
modifications to make it function as doctors from the areas to be served
a mobile health clinic. The mobile by the van. Monthly review
service will cover a population of meetings will be conducted by the
60,000 over six clusters in six days a implementing NGOs and bi-monthly
week. Of the 60,000 population,
review meetings will be convened by
SPYM will cover a population of PFI to monitor progress of the
30,000 in 3 pockets. PRAYATN will project.
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cover a population of
20,000 in 2 pockets
and PMR Research
Centre will cover a
population of 10,000 in
one pocket located in
another slum area. A
nominal registration
fee will be charged from
each patient and the
same will be added to
the revolving fund for
The mobile van which provides reproductive and child health
services in Delhi slums.
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Workshop on
NGOs'Role
in Reproductive
and Child Health
Programmes
lfORLD
~
Workshop on
eproductive and Child Health Programmes in Urban
Role of \\con-Government Organisations
.Jlll~ 13-14.:000 India International Centre New Delhi
A workshop on 'Reproductive
and Child Health Programmes
in Urban Slums: Role of Non-
Government Organisations' was
organised by PFI at India
International Centre on July 13-14,
2000. Mrs Krishna Si ngh, Member
Secretary, National Commission on
Population, inaugurated the two-day
workshop. Sixteen persons including
experts, government functionaries
and representatives from a large
number of NGOs working on
Reproductive and Child Health (RCH)
presented papers.
In her inaugural address, Mrs
Krishna Singh said, since the urban
areas did not have a wide reaching
network of health services as in the
rural communities, NGOs and
community development societies
should be involved in identifying
sites for urban reproductive and
child health centres with flexible
timings.
She favoured the
establishment of reproductive and
child health centres, accessible to
community, irrespective of the legal
status of the settlements.
Mrs Singh suggested that an
integrated package of services
should be delivered through the
Mrs Krishna Singh, Member Secretary, National Commission on Population, speaking after
inaugurating the workshop on 'NGOs' Role in Reproductive and Child Health Programmes in Urban
Slums'. Others are: (from left) Mr Hari Shankar Singhania, Vice Chairman, PFI and Dr K Srinivasan,
Executive Director, PFI.
community development societies
which would become the axis in the
urban poor settlements. These
societies must be made responsible
for registration of births/deaths,
provision of contraceptives, meeting
needs of the poor women with regard
to reproductive and child health
information and facilities for routine
immunisation programme.
She said NGOs working in the areas
of health, community development
and education can be brought
together under a single umbrella
network that can be involved for
meeting the sectoral goals.
Considering the vast magnitude of
urban slums, concerted efforts on
the part of the government and NGOs
working side by side would be
required.
Srinivasan, Executive Director of PFI
said one of the strategic themes
identified in the recently announced
National Population Policy 2000
which has ambitious demographic
and health goals, was the concern for
nearly 100 million population living
in urban slums with little or no access
to health care services. This
contributed to high infant and child
mortality which in turn perpetuated
high fertility and maternal mortality.
liThe need is to provide primary
health care including reproductive
and child health care to slum
population as urgently as possible,"
he said.
Mr Hari Shankar Singhania, Vice-
chairman, PFI in his address said the
workshop would facilitate interaction
between experts from various fields
in relation to RCH and government
fu ncti ona ries.
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government clinical services on which
practically all the NGOs depended for
help and services to clients referred
by them. It was felt that there was a
great scope of improving quality of
services extended by the government
health facilities.
A view of the workshop on 'NGOs' Role in Reproductive and Child Health Programmes in
Urban Slums'.
The workshop noted the current
emphasis on medical research in the
areas of contraceptives. It was agreed
that NGOscan facilitate in transferring
the new technology methods and
information from the laboratories to
the field because of their established
credibility and easy reach.
The programme of the workshop
was divided into six sessions:
(1) Reproductive and Child Health
Programmes - problems perceived by
NGOs in implementing
the
programme, (2) Approach and
methodology in implementing RCH
programmes, (3) New initiatives in
implementing RCH services by NGOs
under new population policy,
(4) Adolescent Health and Sexuality
- major issues and approaches,
(5) Sexual health - focus on RTI/
STI,HIV/AIDS, and (6) New initiatives
required under NPP 2000 - experience
of major projects in slums.
Each session focused on the problem
in programme implementation,
NGOs' approach to handle the
problem, its outcome and
suggestions and recommendations
to deal with the outcome.
The discussion and exchange of
actual work experience in the six
sessions generated rich opportunities
for mutual self learning for
improving the working of NGOs. The
following are some of the important
points discussed at the workshop
which were later included in the
recommendations:
The participants stressed the need for
'networking' among NGOs, the
government and others. The
deliberations helped in clarifying the
concept of 'networking' in terms of
concrete actions. The group agreed
on the following maximum action
definition of the illusive concept of
networking: (i) Identification of
training needs of the groups
(ii) Imparting training (iii) Joint
development of logistics for carrying
out programme activities and its
accountability to each other.
Rendering of quality services was
considered to be a strong motivating
factor for better utilisation of
Misuse of ultrasound has become
rampant. The technique was being
used for sex determination and
elimination of female foetus which
was likely to create male female
imbalances in the demographic
scenario of the country. It was
suggested that NGOs should take up
this issue and plan out advocacy role
in educating people in this regard.
The problems of improving the reach,
easy access and greater utilisation of
services were discussed at length. It
was noted that most of the services
are provided through static clinic by
referring the beneficiaries to static
government health facilities. The
slums present certain problems in this
model of providing services, there
being problems of space, privacy,
aseptic conditions as well as
opportunity for counselling clients.
Some of the NGOs shared their
experience of providing mobile clinic
services in slum areas.
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Satellite TV to Educate Panchayat Members
in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh
P FI has undertaken a project
to utilise the space based
communication facilities in
order to reach larger audience of
decision makers of the rural
communities like members of
Panchayati Raj, health personneL
community leaders, spokespersons,
family elders, various groups of
mahilajpurush mandals and general
public. The group of people to be
covered also include the service
providers like private medical
practitioners
of allopathic,
indigenous system of medicine,
members of village level health
workers, state government
staff, media people, staff of
mother and other NGOs and staff
of Primary Health Centres and
health posts.
supported by Department of Health
and Family Welfare, Karnataka,
Administrative Training Institute
(ATI), Mysore and Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO),
Ahmedabad.
ATI has developed 110 nodes
(receiving ends) based at the district
level and Taluka level. AT! will help
in developing cordial atmosphere at
the teaching end at the time of live
or repeat telecast. ISRO has
developed a teaching studio at
Mysore whi ch will be used for
teaching purposes.
ISEC will implement the programme.
It will co-ordinate at the teaching
end and will help in the selection
of resource and anchor persons and
arranging video clippings with the
co-operation of AT!. It will train the
facilitators at the receiving ends
and co-ordinate with the State
Health Department in arranging
question and answer sessions.
Besides distributing teaching and
printed information material to the
participants, ISEC will also monitor
the effectiveness of each telecast
and will conduct an end-line
evaluation after the completion of
14 teaching modules for getting the
impact and usefulness of the
project.
Educational programmes in modular
form will be prepared on the
following nine topics: Role and
Using this mechanism of space
communication,
PFI has been
involved in developing a prototype
to educate and sensitise the above
category of persons about their
roles and responsibilities in the
areas of health, population
stabilisation
and
social
development for the community.
The project is being taken up in
Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh for a
period of one year.
In Karnataka, the project will be
implemented in collaboration with
Institute for Social and Economic
Change (ISEC) and will be
A receiver of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad. The programme to educate
the Panchayat members in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh about their role and responsibilities will be
telecast with the help of ISRO.
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respon~ib;l;t;~~ of m~mb~r~
in Uttar Pradesh where PFI has
of Panchayati Raj institutions,
Panchayat members will be
approached SIFPSA and
Gender
equity
and
sensitised about their role and
Distance Education Department
empowerment of women,
Literacy and education,
Common
communicable
diseases and their prevention,
Water supply and sanitation,
Food and nutrition,
Reproductive
and child
health, Family planning
responsibilities in the areas of
empowerment of women, literacy
and education, communicable
diseases, water supply and
sanitation, reproductive and child
health, family planning methods and
population and development issues.
for collaboration. Sixteen
direct receiving set nodes
(receiving ends) where SIFPSA
projects
have
been
functioning, will be used. The
programme will be once in a
week for atleast 5 hours a day
and will continue for 14 weeks.
methods and Population and
SIFPSA is likely to take care of
development issues.
16 nodes.
identify and meet them, Counselling
In addition, there will be four - basic principles, and common side Preparation of 14 teaching based
modules specifically prepared for effects of contraception and how to modules for UP is in progress and
service providers on RCH and family cope with them.
these are expected to be ready by
planning, mostly for personnel
the middle of December.
working in health and medical The first programme is expected to be
departments,
local medical aired in the first week of January 2001. The first programme in Uttar Pradesh
practitioners etc. These are: Unmet
will be telecast by first week of
needs for family planning: how to
January 2001.
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Orientation for N55 Volunteers
A team comprising of Mr Vincent
Victor, Joint Director (IEC),
Mrs Geeta Malhotra, Public
Relations Officer, Dr Prashant
Kashyap, Medical Officer and Ms
Sunita Arora, Research Associate,
visited St. John's College, Agra on
September 22, 2000 to orient the
NSS students involved in the project
"Involvement of National's Service
Scheme (NSS) Volunteers in
Information, Dissemination and
Awareness Generation about
Population Issues". The orientation
course was attended by a group of
25 students along with their
supervisors. The following topics
were discussed during the course:
communication skills, education and
literacy, safe motherhood, planned
parenthood, child care, population
issues and RTIsjSTIsjHIV j AIDS.
At a review meeting with the NSS co-
ordinator in August 2000, it was
decided to organise a day's
orientation course for volunteers.
The main purpose was to provide the
feedback to the volunteers on
difficulties faced by them in the
implementation of the project. In
some cases, new volunteers had
joined as the previous students had
passed out and left the college.
The project aims to train the
student youth to understand the
meaning of family planning, small
family norm and reproductive and
child health issues. The specific
objectives are: promoting basic
sanitation and hygiene in the
villages; creating awareness
regarding family planning and
motivating eligible couples to
adopt modern methods of
contraceptives;
encouraging
deliveries to be conducted by the
Trained Birth Attendants; and
helping the local Auxiliary Nurse
Midwives in providing effective
delivery of health services.
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Empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Haryana
Government Extends Support
The project to empower
members of Panchayati Raj
Institutions in Haryana is now
The project aims to provide one-day
training to 314 members of 19 Zila
Parishads, two-day training to 2426
all the three tiers in the 19 districts
of Haryana. The training is being
imparted with the help of 80 Master
at its final stage. The project, which members of 114 Panchayat Samitis Trainers and 1,133 Local Resource
began in September 1998 is to be and two-day training at the cluster Persons who were earlier trained for
completed by the end of December level to 60,363 members of 6,017 the purpose.
2000. The project aims to provide Gram Panchayats followed by the
training to the members of Panchayati visits of Local Resource Persons to Out of 19 districts, training
Raj institutions in Haryana.
each Panchayat.
programmes for members of 10 Zila
Parishads
have been
Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr
completed. At the Block
Om Prakash Chautala, has in
Samiti level, out of 114
a message exhorted all
elected
members
of
gfoRfum~~~a.m
fUll •.1.•
blocks, training programmes
have been held for 68 blocks.
Panchayati Raj institutions in
Training programmes for
Haryana to participate in the
cluster level are in the
three tier training programme
~~
process of being completed
being provided by the PFI.
which will be followed by the
Earlier, in a letter to the Chief
visits of Local Resource
Medical Officers of all districts
Persons to each Panchayat for
in Haryana, the Principal
nine half days. The training
Secretary, Department of
programmes are expected to
Health had directed them to
be completed by the end of
support the PFI's training
November 2000.
programme and extend
necessary help to the
The data about the various
Implementing Agencies thus
components of the training
strengtheni ng the Panchayati
programme
has been
Raj institutions in Haryana.
collected in specially
prepared formats which have
Similarly, the Financial
Commissioner and Secretary,
Department of Development
and Panchayats, Haryana had
written to all the Deputy
Commissioners and District
The training module on Haryana Panchayati Raj has been
extensively used for training of Master Trainers and Local
Resource Persons. A short version has been distributed to
each of the 61,000 members of Panchayati Raj institutions
in Haryana.
been fed into the computer
as part of the Management
Information System (MIS).
The progress of the project
activities is reviewed in
Development and Panchayat Officers Seven Implementing Agencies have monthly review meetings attended
asking them to extend co-operation collaborated with the Foundation to by the Implementing Agencies at PFI
to the Implementing Agencies.
organise the training programmes at office.
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Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Alappuzha and Jorhat Win JRD Tata Awards
covering a wide range of subjects like
fertility, mortality, education levels,
maternal care and government
expenditure
on health and
education. On the basis of this
composite index, Tamil Nadu has
stood first with a score of 97
followed by Kerala and Andhra
Pradesh.
The awards for best performing
districts on Reproductive and Child
Health programmes have been given
to Chennai in Tamil Nadu in the large
population category district,
Alappuzha in Kerala and Jorhat in
Assam in medium and small size
population districts respectively.
Earlier, Dr Bharat Ram said that the
Foundation in 1996 decided to
institute national awards for the State
and the districts with outstanding
performance in population and
reproductive health and family
planning programme. The inaugural
JRD Tata Awards for Population and
Reproductive Health were announced
on July 29, 1997. Kerala received the
award for the best performing state
while the districts of Palakkad in
Kerala, Chidambaranar in Tamil Nadu
and Kurukshetra in Haryana received
the awards for the best performing
districts.
Justice Leila Seth said with a view to
encourage better performance among
the poor performing states in the
country, best performing district from
each of the three poor performing
states was selected for an award this
time. The state level analysis has
found that Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Orissa are the three poor performing
states. The awards for best
performing districts in these states
have been given to Dehradun in U.P.,
Purbi Singhbhum in Bihar and Cuttack
in Orissa.
The best performing state is to
receive a rolling trophy and a cash
award of Rs 10 lakhs. Each of the
best performing districts is to receive
a rolling shield and a cash award of
Rs 2 lakhs and each of the best
performing districts in the poor
performing states will get a
momento and Rs 2 lakhs. The awards
will be formally presented at a
function in December 2000.
The second JRD Tata Awards, 2000
were judged by an Awards
Committee
consisting
of
distinguished
persons from
different disciplines. Ms Justice
Leila Seth chaired the Committee
which consisted of Mr B G Deshmukh,
former Cabinet Secretary; Dr M S
Swaminathan, noted Agricultural
Scientist and Magsaysay Award
winner; Dr N K Ganguly, Director
General, Indian Council for Medical
Research; Ms Nirmala Buch, former
Adviser to the Gujarat Governor; Dr
Vasant R Gourikar, former Scientific
Adviser to the Government of India
and Dr K Srinivasan, Executive
Director, PFI who was the Member
Secretary.
Selection of State Level Award
The selection of the State level Award
2000 has been made on the basis of
a set of nine indicato'rs for which data
were compiled from various
published sources for the latest year
for which such data are available,
which is for the year 1997 or 98, and
five years earlier, 1992-93. These
indicators have a strong bearing on
reproductive health, family planning
and fertility levels of the population.
They are:
• Total Fertility Rate
• Infant Mortality Rate
• Proportion of births of order 4
and above
• Medical attention at Delivery
• Expectation of Life at Birth
• Adult Literacy Rate (15 years and
above)
• Middle School Enrolment Ratio
• Middle School Continuation Rate
• Percentage of expenditure on
education, health, family welfare,
sanitation and nutrition
The nine indicators cover a wide range
of fertility, mortality, educational
levels, maternal care and government
expenditure on health and education.
They capture the processes and
achievements in human development
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Selection of Best Performing
Districts
In the seLection of the best
performing districts, data on eight
indicators was used at district LeveL
from a recent survey on Reproductive
and ChiLd HeaLth (RCH) (1998-99)
carried out by the Ministry of HeaLth
and FamiLy WeLfare, with technicaL
guidance of InternationaL Institute
for PopuLation Sciences (IIPS). These
indicators are:
Tamil Nadu
TamiL Nadu is one the Larger states
of India with an estimated
popuLation of 61.93 milLion as on
JuLy 2000 and is considered the
heart Land of Dravidian civiLisation
in South Asia.
TamiL Nadu has had a unique sociaL
awareness movement since the
1920s under the Leadership of the
great sociaL reformer Periyar (LV
Ramaswamy
Naicker).
Periyar
emphasised the need to Liberate
women from the wheeLs of child
bearing, the desirabiLity of a small
family norm in every marriage,
encouraging marriage of girLs after
the age of 22, and encouraging
sociaL equity through inter-caste
marriages.
There were aLso a
number of other weLL known sociaL
reformers who through the media
of cinema and stage made powerfuL
impact
on eLimination
of
discriminations
on the basis of
reLigion and caste and sociaL eviLs
such as child marriage and dowry.
Fifty years ago aLL these views
promot-ing women's emancipation,
small
family
norm
and
contraception had to contend with
strong sociaL taboos.
After independence, with the strong
backing of aLL poLiticaL parties in
power in the State favouring small
famiLy norm and with bureaucratic
efficiency in the impLementation of
family weLfare programmes, the State
achieved repLacement
LeveL of
fertility in 1993 or TotaL Fertility Rate
of 2.1. The State has been successfuL
not onLy in achieving
rapid
demographic transition but aLso
made good progress in reLated areas
of education, heaLth and economic
deveLopment. The concept of the
smaLL famiLy norm has diffused
through aLLsegments of TamiL society
cutting across reLigion, caste and
economic barriers.
There are
practicaLLy no fertility differentiaLs in
the State across sociaL and economic
strata.
This is a remarkabLe
achievement.
• Proportion of births of order 3
and above
• Percentage of girLs marrying Less
than 18 years of age
• Percentage of eLigibLe coupLes with
unmet need for family pLanning
• Percentage of currentLy married
women using famiLy pLanning
methods
• Percentage of children with
compLete immunisation
• Percentage of mothers with safe
deLivery
• Percentage of pregnant women
with fuLL ante-nataL care
• Percentage of CurrentLy Married
Women (CMW) with knowLedge of
AIDS
Each of these indicators was first
converted into an index vaLue and
combined with a composite index.
The best performing districts were
seLected on the basis of composite
index.
Three districts were seLected, one
from the Large popuLation category
of more than 2.31 miLLion, one from
the medium category of 1.22 million
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to 2.31 million and thQ third from RCH index value of 92 rank@d first
small category districts with followed by Kottayam with a value of
population below 1.22 million. The 91 among all medium category
district of Chennai in Tamil Nadu districts. According to 1991 Census,
ranked first in the large population the total population of the district
category, Alappuzha in Kerala in the was 2,001,217 with a sex ratio of 1051
medium category and Jorhat in (females per thousand males). The
Assam in the small category.
male and female literacy rate of the
district in 1991 was 97 and 91 per
Chennai
cent respectively as compared to 64
Chennai district in Tamil Nadu has and 39 per cent respectively in the
been adjudged as best performing country. The unique feature of the
district in the large category of district is its high literacy rate, lower
population (above 2.31 million). birth and death rate and better health
The district with an average RCH conditions.
index value of 87 ranked first
followed by Chengalpatu and Greater The proportion of girls married below
Mumbai with a value of 84 and 83 18 years of age is almost absent and
respectively, among all large category of family planning users is as high as
districts. According to 1991 Census, 74 percent in the district. Similarly,
the total population of the district other RCH indicators like proportion
was 3,841,396 with a sex ratio of 934 of pregnant women receiving
(females per thousand males). The complete ante-natal care is 85 percent
male and female literacy rate of the and complete immunisation for
district in 1991 was 88 and 75 per children is 97 percent.
cent respectively as compared to 64
and 39 percent in the country. The
Jorhat
unique feature of the district is its Jorhat district of Assam has been
complete urbanisation
(100 adjudged as best performing district
percent) and lower demographic in the small category of population
parameters. The demographic
(within 0.4 to 1.22 million). The
parameters of the district, such as district with an average RCH index
total fertility rate of 2.65, infant value of 86 ranked first followed by
mortality rate of 32 are significantly Nilgiri with a value of 85 among all
lower than most of the districts in small category district. According to
the country.
1991 Census, the total population of
the district was 8,71,206 with a sex
ALappuzha
ratio of 913 (females per thousand
Alappuzha district in Kerala has been males). The male and female literacy
adjudged as best performing district rate of the district in 1991 was 73
in the medium category of and 57 percent respectively as
population (1.22 million to 2.31 compared to 64 and 39 percent in the
million). The district with an average country. The unique feature of the
district is its excellence performance
in reproductive health parameters
inspite of backwardness of the state.
Total fertility rate in the district was
4.4 and infant mortality rate was 47.
Best Performing Districts in
Poor Performing States
With a view to encourage better
performance among the poor
performing states on RCH
programmes in the country, best
performing districts from three of the
poor performing States have been
selected to serve as pace setters for
these States. The State-level analysis
has found that Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and Orissa are last three poor
performing states. Hence it has been
decided to confer the consolidated
district awards to the best districts
in these states.
Dehradun
With an average RCH index value of
60, Dehradun ranked first followed
by Kanpur Nagar with a value of 59
while the state average is 35.
According to 1991 Census, the total
population of the district was
1,025,697 with a sex ratio of 843
(females per thousand males). The
male and female literacy rate of the
district in 1991 was 78 and 59
percent respectively as compared to
56 and 25 in the state as a whole.
One unique feature of the district is
its higher urbanisation (50 percent)
compared to 20 percent in the State
as a whole.
The demographic parameters of the
district, such as total fertility rate of
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2.1 Page 11 |
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4.0, infant mortality rate of 53 are
significantly lower than that of the
state average of 5.6 and 99 respecti-
vely. The proportion of girls married
below 18 years of age is only 14
percent and of family planning users
is as high as 49 percent in the district
as compared to state average of 45
percent and 31 percent respectively.
Purbi Singhbhum
With an average RCHindex value of
55, Purbi Singhbhum ranked first
followed by Dhanbad with a value of
44 while the state average is only 26.
According to the 1991 Census, the
total population of the district was
1,613,088 with a sex ratio of 906
(females per thousand males). The
male and female literacy rates of the
district in 1991 were 71 and 46
percent respectively as compared to
53 and 23 percent for the state as a
whole. One unique feature of the
district is its higher urbanisation (53
percent) with relatively lower decadal
growth rate of population of 17
percent compared to the State
average of 13 percent of
urbanisation and 24 percent decadal
growth of population as a whole.
The steel city of Jamshedpur and its
adjoining industrial areas fall in
Purbi Singhbhum. The Family Welfare
programme of TISCO has contributed
significantly in promoting family
welfare programmes initially started
for the employees and subsequently
to Jamshedpur city as a whole has
had its impact on the district with
regard to Reproductive and Child
Health Programmes.
Cuttack
With an average RCH index value of
64, Cuttack ranked first followed by
Khurda with a value of 63.85 while
the state average is 49. According to
the 1991 Census, the total population
of Cuttack was 1,972,739 with a sex
ratio of 960 (females per thousand
males). The male and female literacy
rates of the district in 1991 were 76
and 50 percent respectively as
compared to 63 percent and 35
percent for the state as a whole. The
unique feature of the district is the
existence of large number of reputed
educational institutions.
0
Community Radio to Educate Panchayat Members
in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh
P FI has taken up a
community radio project in
Karnataka
and Uttar
Pradesh. Mysore district (Soliga
tribe) has been selected in
Karnataka while Sonbhadra
district has been selected in
Uttar Pradesh for the project.
The project aims to communicate
with the target community
through radio in local language
with the help of a local NGO in
the two states. Suitable time
slots will be arranged with AIR
which would be half an hour a
week.
taken up with the help of
Vivekananda Girijan Kalyan Kendra,
a NGO, headed by Dr Sudarshan in
collaboration with AIR, Bangalore.
There will be 52 episodes with half
an hour duration in Kannada for 52
weeks at the rate of one episode per
week. The project will be for a period
of one year.
A three-day
script-writing
workshop for identifying a group of
suitable writers is being organised
in Bangalore. The audience
research unit of AIR, Bangalore will
undertake the periodic evaluation.
The programme will be launched
on November 1, 2000 i.e.
Rajyothsava day which marks
the birth of the State.
The strategy
adopted
in
Karnataka will be followed in UP.
The project will be taken up in
collaboration with AIR, Lucknow
and Banwasi Seva Ashram
(BSA) headed by Dr Ragini
Premo BSA has been doing
pioneering work among the
tribal population in Sonbhadra
district. BSA will implement the
programme. A script-writing
workshop is being planned in
collaboration with AIR, Lucknow
at Banwasi Seva Ashram in
December.
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New Joinings
Wardha,
she joined
Dr Indu has joined the Foundation
as MedicaL Officer for the project
"Intensive Reproductive HeaLth
and FamiLy WeLfare, Programmes"
for Badaun district in Uttar
Pradesh. After compLeting her
MBBS from Mahatma Gandhi
Institute of MedicaL Sciences,
the Foundation in March 2000.
Mr Vincent Victor has joined the
Foundation as Joint Director
(IEC). He has been associated with
ALL India Radio, DeLhi
Doordarshan, BBC, Voice of
America and UNICEF and has
worked in India, NepaL,
BangLadesh,
PhiLippines,
SeycheLLes and Papua New Guinea. He has worked
as Programme Officer with Leprosy Mission and as an
IEC speciaList with a MaLaria ControL project funded by
the WorLd Bank.
Dr Shantanu Dutta has joined the
Foundation as Joint Director
(Programmes). After compLeting
his MBBS from the Armed Forces
MedicaL CoLLege, Pune, he worked
with Indian Air Force where he was
discharged as a Flight Lieutenant.
He has done his post graduation
from the Christian MedicaL CoLLege,VeLLore. He has worked
with WorLd Vision India, the India chapter of an
internationaL NGO, WorLd Vision InternationaL, where he
Looked after their north India operations, initiating,
impLementing and monitoring new initiatives and
providing inputs into the country strategy. He Looked
after the heaLth sector projects and initiated projects
deaLing with child survivaL, infant nutrition, poLio
eradication, HIV/ AIDS and TubercuLosis control.
0
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