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Popfocus 2009 January March English |
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Fourth JRDTata Memorial Award on Population and
Reproductive Health Programmes
The Population Foundation of
India instituted the JRD Tata
Memorial Awards in 1997 in memory
of the late Mr. JRD Tata, the founder
Board Chairman of the Foundation
for the states and districts with
outstanding performance
in
population, reproductive health and
family planning programme.
This year, the fourth JRD Tata
Memorial Awards were given away
by Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice
President of India at an event
organized by Population Foundation
of India on Friday, January 9, 2009
at National Cooperative Union of
India (NCUn auditorium, New Delhi.
The Award Committee for the fourth
JRD Tata memorial awards decided
to give two state level awards, one
from the bigger states (population of
10 million and above) and another
from the smaller states (population
less than 10 million). Chhattisgarh
was adjudged the winner among the
19 bigger states and Sikkim was the
winner among the 10 smaller states.
Shri P. K. Chamling, Chief Minister
Sikkim and Mr. Amar Agrawal,
Health Minister, Chhattisgarh
received the awards from the Vice
President of India on behalf of the
award winning states. Chhattisgarh
received the award of a rolling trophy
and cash prize of of Rs.15lakhs while
Sikkim received a rolling shield
and cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs for
performance in population and
reproductive health programme.
A Technical Advisory Committee,
comprising experts from diverse
academic affiliations, was constituted.
They guided the Foundation in
Tata Memorial A .
l.or \\\\ ards Presentat'Ion
pulation and Reproductive Health
1
rammes to the best adjudged States III
by
lllll
Shri M. Hamid Ansari
e Vice-President of India
III Jan
Justice Leila Seth, Chairperson, Award Committee announcing the names of
awardee states
selection of indicators and
appropriate methodology for the
selection and finalization of the state/
districts awards. A high level Award
Committee chaired by Ms. Justice
Leila Seth, former Chief Justice of
Himachal Pradesh and comprising
eminent members including Dr. M. S.
Swaminathan, Mr. B. G. Deshmukh,
Dr. Abid Hussain and Mrs Nirmala
Buch selected the winners.
The winning states were selected on
the basis of 14 indicators representing
reproductive health, gender, fertility,
socio-economic development,
education and state government's
commitment to the social sector.
The indicators were drawn from
various secondary sources (National
Family Health Surveys, Census and
Sample Registration System). A major
criterion for selection of states was
the 'change factor' (improvement in
indicators over a decade).
Chhattisgarh has made improvement
in almost all the indicators considered
for the 4th JRD Tata Memorial award.
Global Summit on Sustainable
Development and Biodiversity ... 3
State Level Thematic Workshop
on Institutional Delivery
... 4
Technical Support for Developing
District Health Action Plan
in Bihar
... 6
Strengthening VHSCs for
improving RCH
Magh Mela HIV/ AIDS
Awareness Campaign
Health Promotion for
Adolescent Girls:
A Project for Change
... 7
•.. 8
••• 10
Workshop on JSY, Swasthya
Panchayat & VHSC
•.. 11
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lr,m 'he £xec,,'if1e l)ireC#,r', de,k ...
As the 15th Lok Sabha 2009 election draws closer,
many vital issues are being debated. Among the various
needs of the country, one important issue that needs to be debated
is the issue of "Population Stabilization." The current high
population growth rate in some parts of the country is due to the
large size of the population in the reproductive age group, higher
fertility due to the unmet need for contraception, and high wanted
fertility due to prevailing high Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).
Substantial differences are visible among states in achievement
of basic demographic indices. This has led to significant disparity
in current population size and the potential to influence population
increase in future. The growth rates continue to be high in the
states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
These states with high fertility rates are the very states which
have low literacy rates and low health indicators with high infant
mortality and high maternal mortality. These states account for
nearly 40% of the country's population and will contribute well
over 50% of growth in the coming decades.
There are related population issues such as literacy and educational
level, high infant, child and maternal mortality, women's status
and sex ratio at birth (female foeticide) which are matters of grave
concern.
Political parties and the public need to take these issues in to
consideration and recognize the close two-way linkages between
sustainable development and population stabilization and
consequently with other development initiatives like health,
education, nutrition and poverty alleviation programmes.
Priorities must be set for tackling these issues within a non-coercive
rights-based and gender sensitive framework that is pro-people,
pro-poor, pro-women and pro-youth and that addresses the issues
of access to and quality of services. This framework calls for the
following:
• Recognition of close linkages between sustainable development
and population stabilization
• Following a non-coercive, rights based and gender sensitive
approach for population stabilization
• Creating an enabling environment for the poor and
marginalized to have a small but a happy and healthy family
by choice and not through coercion, incentives and
disincentives and not through imposition of two child norm
from above.
• We do not believe in targets for family planning to be imposed
from above, but plans should be prepared keeping the
community needs of each local area.
• Improving health and family planning services for the poor by
addressing issues of access and quality
• Designing and planning health, population and social
development programmes for local communities (each village
and each ward of an urban area) based on the felt needs of
the community and by involving the community itself.
• Self Help Groups (SHGs), Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs)
and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to be involved
in planning, implementation
and monitoring such
programmes.
• Focusing on adolescent and youth (10-30 years) to make them
healthy and productive through gender sensitive and value
based Family Life Education including on sexual and
reproductive health.
PoPJQcus
Full immunization for the state improved from 20.0 in
1998-99 to 48.7 in 2005-06. Similarlyfor at least three
ANC visits, the figure got a boost from 33.2 in 1998-99
to 54.2 in 2005-06. The state has also shown
improvement in safe delivery, child nutrition and infant
mortality rate.
Among the smaller states, Sikkim has shown remarkable
improvement in terms of contraceptive prevalence rate
(53.8 to 57.6), full immunization (47.4 to 69.6), at least
three ANC visits (42.6 to 70.1) in between two successive
National Family Health Surveys (1998-99 and 2005-06).
The state has also made substantial reduction in infant
mortality rate and percentage of children underweight.
Mr. Hari Shankar Singhania, Chairman, Governing
Board, Population Foundation of India delivering the
welcome address said that though NGOs can playas an
important catalyst in the process of demographic
transition, the elected Governments of state and centre
have to play the central role in the provision of basic
reproductive and child health and quality family planning
services. NGOs can at the best play a supplementary
role and serve as innovators of pilot programme in these
areas.
Mr. B.G. Deshmukh, Vice-Chairman, Governing Board,
PFI invited Justice Leila Seth, Chairperson, Award
Committee to announce the names of awardee states.
In her brief presentation, she outlined the methodology,
the process followed in selection of the winning states
and the significance of the award.
In his speech, Mr. Ansari said, "stabilization of population
is an essential requirement for promoting sustainable
development with more equitable distribution. Curbing
population growth cannot be a goal in itself. It is only a
means to development. However, it is as much a function
of making reproductive health care and family planning
services accessible and affordable for all, as of increasing
the provision and outreach of primary and secondary
education, extending basic amenities, empowering
women and enhancing their employment opportunities
and providing transport and communication. Therefore,
a broad social policy with an integrated approach
Contd. on page 9
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~l
Pop.!bcus
Global Summil on Suslainable Developmenl and BiodiversilV
Global warming and environ-
mental degradation are among
the many challenges facing the world
currently. Sustainable development is
a major concern for Government,
civilsociety and corporate world these
days. Very little attempt has been
made to understand the vision of
the stakeholders and assess the
time tested technologies, values
and mechanisms of conserving,
regenerating and preserving the
ecosystem. Internationally there are
initiatives to examine the ways in
which the stakeholders and civil
society organizations can participate
in planning process with the planners
and experts and how their indigenous
time tested mechanism for ensuring
equilibrium between social well being
and eco health could be renewed at
a macro scale.
In view of the above, the Global
Summit on Sustainable Development
and Biodiversity 2008 was organized
by VRM Foundation in association
with Chhattisgarh Environment
Conservation Board on February
7-9, 2009 at Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
A National Organising Committee,
including eminent experts in various
fields was constituted for the Summit.
Dr. Lalitendu Jagatdeb, Joint Director
(M&E), PH was one of the members
of the committee.
Population Foundation of India was
one of the organizers for this Summit.
The aim of the Global Summit was
the promotion of public private
partnership towards meeting common
challenges of globalization and for
the future of human beings. In this
connection, the Summit was designed
to promote
an
international platform for
initiating meaningful
dialogue on various
issues of climate
change, environmental
governance, sustainable
development and bio-
diversity conservation in
forest regions of South
Asia, Africa, Australia,
Mexico, in general and
India in particular.
Dr. Lalitendu Jagatdeb, Joint Director (M&E), PFI
receiving the award from the Governor of Chhattisgarh
The main objectives of
the Global Summit were to (a) bring At the Summit, Dr. Almas Ali, Senior
together academicians, administ-
rators, policy makers, corporate
executives and social activists on a
common platform to initiate
meaningful dialogue relating to
sustainable biodiversity conversation,
climate change and global warming,
environmental governance and
sustainable development, (b)critically
examine replicability of promising
practices of sustainable environmental
governance, sustainable entre-
preneurship and indigenous
mechanism of biodiversity conver-
sation validated through research
studies across various regions of the
globe, (c) identify the mechanism for
implementation of the resolutions of
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), the first Global Knowledge
Conference at Toronto (1997) and
Advisor, PH gave a keynote address
on 'Population Trends and Dynamics'
at the introductory session. In his
presentation, Dr. Ali said that natural
resource depletion depends on two
factors, (i)the number of consumers,
and (ii) the rate of pattern of
consumption. If everyone consumes
the same quantity of natural resources
then the total use or exploitation of
natural resources would depend on
numbers only. In his address, he
outlined empowering people by
giving them choices for family
planning and access to universal
comprehensive primary health care,
which will ultimately lead to lower
fertility, smaller families, slower
population growth, thus reducing the
burden on the environment.
recommendations of Brundtland
Commission 1987,UN Conference
on climate change Bali (2007) and
defining indicators of sustainable
development focusing on sustainable
development at regional level,
(d) recommend policy makers,
corporate actors and development
Dr. Lalitendu Jagatdeb, Joint Director
(Monitoring and Evaluation) chaired
the technical session. He said
enhancing public awareness on
climate change is a common
responsibility and there is a need for
multisectoral approach.
agencies for developing
viable social responsi-
bility, management
network strategy and
appropriate strategic
plan for initiating both
macro and micro level
action plan on sustainable
development, and (e)
facilitate implementation
of viable climate change
projects in different
tropical regions of the
At the Summit, PFI was awarded
as the Best Eco-Friendly
Foundation
of India for
spectacular contribution towards
promoting vibrant partnership with
civil society, corporate sectors and
government in developing replicable
models for balancing environment
and social health. Dr. Lalitendu
Jagatdeb on behalf of PH received
the award from the Governor of
Chhattisgarh.
world.
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PopJOcus
State level Thematic Workshop on Institutional Delivery
PFI - RRC organized a two day
State Level Thematic Workshop
on Institutional Delivery in Patna,
Bihar on March 27-28, 2009.
The main objectives of the workshop
were to:
i) orient and sensitize various
stakeholders like policy makers,
planners, programme function-
aries, media, public-private health
service providers and NGOs on
institutional delivery for reducing
maternal mortality,
ii} promote ante-natal care for
effective and sustainable
approaches for promoting
institutional delivery in health
services,
iii} ensure client involvement in
Janani Evam Bat Suraksha
Yojna (JBSY) to enhance
institutional delivery practices, and
iv} come up with a set of
recommendations for improving
institutional delivery in the state.
A total of 94 participants including
representatives from Department
of Health & Family Welfare, other
representatives
of the state
government, MNGOs, FNGOs and
NGOs participated in the workshop.
The workshop was inaugurated by
Shri Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Principal
Secretary (Health), Department of
Health & Family Welfare (DoHFW),
Government of Bihar (GoB).
Mr. R. U. Singh, Honorary Advisor
of PFI for Bihar and Jharkhand
delivered the introductory address on
PFI and its activities in the state of
Bihar. He shared that as RRC, PFI
works towards providing technical
support in programme management
to MNGOs, FNGOs, SNGOs and
state NGO Committee under the
Govt. of India. He reiterated that the
maternal mortality rate of Bihar is
371 as against 301 at the all India
level and the IMR of Bihar is 68 per
1000 live child births, which is also
higher than national average. The
MMR and IMR can be reduced if all
the deliveries would be conducted at
institutions. He encouraged all the
Shri Bhanu Pratap Sharma (I.A.S.), Principal Secretary, Department of Health &
Family Welfare, Gout. of Bihar addressing the participants
representatives of MNGOs to
honestly work towards improving the
maternal health by promoting
institutional delivery. The MNGOs
should also work towards successful
implementation of JBSY.
In his inaugural address, the Chief
Guest, Shri Bhanu Pratap Sharma
(LA.S.), Principal Secretary (Health),
DoHFW, GoB said that the maternal
mortality rate of the state is 371,
which is the 4th highest in the country.
Reducing maternal and infant
mortality is a prime concern for the
state and hence the major focus of
the State Government under NRHM
is to implement all the programmes
and schemes related to maternal and
child health successfully in the state.
He also insisted that the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) of
decreasing maternal mortality cannot
be achieved without promoting
institutional delivery. He was also of
the opinion that the focus should be
on quality services and not merely
improving the number of deliveries
taking place at institutions. He said
that there is a need of trained and
skilled human resource to handle
complicated deliveries and perform
caesarean sections and the
government is putting all its efforts
to make two functional referral units
at each district for handling
complicated cases. The government
is investing lots of resources for
infrastructure development, but the
biggest challenge is the shortage of
specialists, especially the anesthetists,
obstetrics and gynecologists. The
availability of latest equipments and
related supplies pose another
challenge.
Further, he said that under the MNGO
scheme, the accountability needs to
be with everyone, especially for the
selection and training of ASHAs.
He expressed his concern towards
implementation of the MNGO
scheme in the state. He assured that
the matter of rolling out of the MNGO
scheme in the state would be looked
into and the fund release would be
facilitated.
Mr. Abhyananad, Additional Director
General of Police observed that the
health and education are the two
important concerns for the state and
we all need to realize our strengths
and need guidance to make a change
in the society.
Dr. Veena Pandey, State Health
Education Officer highlighted that the
focus is more on preventive aspects
of health, but we need to strike a
balance between provisions of
preventive and curative services.
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PoP./OCUs
She also highlighted that the facilities
for institutional delivery are very poor
in providing safe and hygienic services
to the beneficiaries. The focus should
be on infrastructure development,
positioning trained and qualified
human resources, capacity building to
the existing human resources,
strengthening of facilities and regular
and timely supply of sufficient drugs
and other supplies for ensuring
qualitative institutional delivery in the
state. It is a time taking process, but
it needs to be taken into consideration
in a phased manner for providing
quality care services to the
beneficiaries.
Dr Manju Mala, Director, SIHFW
threw light on the capacity building
initiatives of SIHFW in the state. She
said that SIHFW is conducting various
capacity building initiatives for the
health service providers. SIHFW is
building capacity of ANMs, Medical
Officers Incharge (MOIC), MAMTA
for delivering the qualitative health
services. There is acute shortage of
doctors in the government health
system.
The public health experts from
government health services and
non governmental organizations
participated and dealt on the concept
of institutional delivery and its
importance for improving maternal
health, common causes of maternal
death and major steps for reducing
maternal deaths, government
initiatives towards promoting
maternal and child health under
NRHM, importance of new born care
in reducing infant mortality rate with
special focus on home based neo
natal care, ensuring institutional
delivery for the urban poor,
community action for promoting
institutional
delivery, role of
community health workers and
MNGOs/NGOs
in promoting
institutional delivery. The regional
level recommendations emerging out
from the six regional thematic
workshops, organized by PFI-RRC, in
six different regions of the state were
shared during the workshop.
In the group work organized for
deliberating on the constraints and
solutions for promoting institutional
delivery, the participants discussed
i) the factors influencing /associated
with institutional delivery, ii) the
challenges pertaining to institutional
delivery, iii) the strategies for
promotion of institutional delivery,
and iv) the activities based on
strategies for institutional delivery.
Recommendations
from the
workshop have been documented
and would be shared with
state government
and other
stakeholders.
Advocacy Training Programme on Strategic Communications
A two day training programme on
strategic communications
was
conducted by PH in collaboration with
Centre for World Solidarity (CWS),
Bihar Resource Centre on March 20-
21, 2009 in Patna. The objective of
the training was to strengthen the
programme planning in advocacy using
the "Smart Chart" communications tool
for partner NGOs of CWS. Twenty five
grassroot partner NGOs of CWS from
across Bihar participated in the
programme. These organizations have
a strong rights based approach in
addressing issues of natural resource
management particularly disaster
management, gender empowerment,
Dalit rights and empowerment and
education. All the organizations work
amongst some of the most marginalized
communities in Bihar. The participants
comprised heads of organizations,
project managers and coordinators
with extensive experience of working
in institutions, networks, movements
and alliances. In course of two days,
the participants were trained on
programme development, programme
decision making, undertaking scanning
of internal and external environment
vis-a-vis their issues and concerns,
learning about making strategic
communications choices and identifying
processes for measuring success.
Participatory approach was adopted in
the training through a combination of
lectures, presentations, group work,
individual assignments and songs.
A case management approach was
adopted in the training, where examples
from the state and of the issues and
strategies being adopted by the NGOs
were used. As an outcome of the
training, the participants prepared a
detailed advocacy plan on issues of Dalit
rights, women's rights and empower-
ment, disaster management and
preparedness and education, which will
be reviewed by CWS as part of their
effort to build partner capacity in
strategic planning. Participants found
the training in Hindi to be extremely
useful towards strengthening their work
in their respective areas and in building
their knowledge and suggested that
such trainings should be undertaken for
other NGOs in the state.
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~•~• l
Pop./Ocus
Technical Support for Developing District Health Action Plan in Bihar
The Department of Health and
State Health Society, Govern-
ment of Bihar, as part of the
implementation of NRHM in the
state, has engaged civil society
organizations in developing the
District Health Action Plan (DHAP)
for all 38 districts of Bihar for the
financial year 2009-10. At the
request of the state government and
UNFPA, PFI provided technical
assistance and facilitated the
development of the DHAPs of Supau!
and Purnea districts.
The process of preparation of
DHAPs for Supaul and Purnea
districts involved participatory and
need based approach in collaboration
with district administration, line
departments, Block and District
Health Societies, PRls and NGOs.
The DHAP development process is
based on the NRHM guidelines with
focus on health situation analysis in
these districts and the priorities of
2009-10. Following activities were
undertaken for preparing the DHAP:
1. Formation of DHAP
development team
2. State level planning meeting
3. Situational analysis
4. Block level consultations
5. District level consultations
The process began with a preparatory
meeting on developing the DHAP
for Purnea and Supaul districts
in January 2009 at Patna. The
representatives from the State Health
Society including the Executive
Director, Consultant (NRHM),
Consultant (RCH), Programme
Manager, Data Manager, State
Malaria Officer, State Leprosy Officer,
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
(ACMO), District Programme
Managers (DPMs) of District Health
Society from Rohtas, Vaishali, Purnea
and Supaul blocks of Bihar and the
representatives of Public Health
Resource Network, UNFPA, PH,
Arthik Atma Nirbharta Samajik Vikas
Abhikaran (AANSVA) and Alliance
for Holistic and Sustainable
J !ammUnitieS
II
(AHSDC) were present at the
meeting. The DHAP framework and
the activity plan were shared and the
DHAP development team was
formed at the meeting.
Following the state level meeting, the
team visited both the districts and
held consultations with the District
Magistrates (DMs}/Civii Surgeons
(CS), DPMUs and BHMUs. The
purpose of the meetings was to share
the information about the DHAP
development team, roles and
responsibilities of the development
team and its members, and the
activity plan. The meeting built the
ownership of the process at the
district level.
At the block level, an orientation
meeting was organised for the Block
Health Management Unit (BHMU)
to collect the required data as per
the DHAP guidelines. Though the
data was collected from all the blocks
of both the districts (Purnea - 14
blocks and Supaul- 11 blocks), block
level consultations were held only in
two blocks of each district.
Considering the high and low priority
The DHAP development
process is based on the NRHM
guidelines with focus on
health situation analysis in
these districts and
the priorities of 2009-10
areas, the blocks, namely B. Kothi
and Kasba from Purnea district and
Triveniganj and Kishanpur from
Supaul district were selected for
block consultations, based on the
suggestions by the District authorities
of both the districts.
The data collection was undertaken
by the BHMU in the prescribed
format (Situational Analysis for
District Health Action Plan) with.
reference to the information available
at the block headquarters. They also
jJ L Jrmation avaiale
with ICDS, PHC, APHC, Referral
Hospital, PHED, Block Education
Office, PRls, ANMs, ASHAs, and
other sources. In some blocks, the
BHMU even managed to undertake
group discussions in the villages to
validate the secondary data.
The filled in formats were then
submitted to PH for analysis and for
facilitating the process of undertaking
the Block and District level
Consultations. The data were analyzed
by PH for sharing the situation of the
districts at the block and district level
consultations and get the recommen-
dations for developing the DHAP.
The block level consultations were
held at B. Kothi and Kasba blocks of
Purnea district and Triveniganj and
Kishanpur blocks of Supaul during
the fourth week of January 2009. The
situation analysis was presented at the
block consultations based on which
the priority issues within maternal
health, child health and immunisation,
family planning and disease control
programme were identified.
The district level consultations were
held at Supaul and Purnea districts on
January 22, 2009. The District
Magistrates, CivilSurgeons, DHMUs,
BHMUs, representatives from all
similar line departments, PRls and
NGOs were present in the
consultation. Members of the district
DHAP team, PFI and UNFPA
facilitated the consultation. The
objectives, expected outcomes and
processes to attain the expected
outputs were explained to the
participants. The findings and
recommendations emerging from the
block level consultations were shared
with the participants. This was
followed by NRHM component
specific discussion by the participants
. for providing inputs to the DHAP.
The draft DHAP has been finalized
after incorporating the feedback
and suggestions given by District
Magistrate and Civil Surgeon.
The final DHAP approved by
them has been submitted to the
Executive Director, State Health
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PopJOcus
Strengthening VHSCs for Improving RCH
Health is an important aspect of
the development process.
Usually health is not in the priority
list of the community. Any mishap
that occurs is usually ignored and is
treated as natural. The truth however
is that health issues can't be kept in
isolation in the development process.
National Rural Health Mission has
initiated a process to bring health
issues to the forefront in the
developmental priorities through
participatory and decentralized
planning. The decentralization and
communitization of the planning and
decision making processes on health
issues is at the core of the Mission
agenda. Village Health and Sanitation
Committees have been identified as
the principal vehicle to achieve this
goal.
Population Foundation of India has
planned to positively contribute to
the implementation of the Mission
agenda by extending support
for strengthening Village Health
and Sanitation Committees and
facilitating formulation of village
health plans through participatory
processes under various projects
supported by it. With this aim,
a three day Training of Trainers (ToT)
was organized for partner
organizations at Tata Chemicals
Society for Rural Development
(TCSRD), the corporate social wing
of the Tata Chemicals and
Fertilisers Limited, Babrala, Badaun
(U.P.). JK Tyers' Parivartan Project
and JK Laxmi Cement's Naya Savera
Project were other participants
at the ToT. Dr. Mazhar Ali Rashidi,
Participatory Practitioner facili-
tated the sessions.
Mr. Mayank Srivastava acted
as co-trainer for process
documentation.
The Day I focused on basic
tenets of participatory
approach: self initiative,
relationship, rapport building
and active listening, concepts
of rapid rural appraisal,
participatory rural appraisal,
learning and action.
The participants learnt that
participation is a process through
which stakeholders influence and
share control over development
initiatives and the decisions and
resources which affect them. Unless
the poor are given an opportunity to
participate in the development of
interventions designed to improve
their livelihoods, they will continue to
miss the benefits of any intervention.
The participants imbibed the
advantages of this participatory
approach. They understood that the
main tenet of participative approaches
to development is that the community
and stakeholders are collaborators in
the process at every stage of project
development and implementation.
And those participative methods are
meant to generate a sense of
ownership of decisions and actions.
This is in contrast to the traditional
model of development where project
conceptualization, objectives and
design are imposed on the community
by people external to the community
who are characterized as experts.
They also learned that participatory
approaches can challenge
perceptions, leading to a
change in attitude and
agenda. They also provide
new and sometimes
surprising
insights.
Participatory approach
brings about economies of
scale, cost effective-
ness through higher
productivity and efficiency
and project sustainability
through
increased
ownership and democratization of
institutions. Participatory tools are also
important agents for behavior change.
The second half of the day focused
on National Rural Health Mission
and thereafter on decentralized
management and the structure and
role of Rogi Kalyan Samitis.
The next session focused on five steps
of planning cycle Le. need assessment
and formation, orientation, resource
mapping and gap filling, roles and
responsibilities of VHSC, problem
identification and prioritization and
resource allocation, implementation
and feed back of learnings.
The next day discussion moved on
to strengthening the VHSCs. The
practical requirements of an ideal
VHSC were discussed through role
play. Accordingly the gaps were
observed. After the gap filling, the
ideal model of VHSC was generated.
Lastly, the training focused on
developing participants' under-
standing of the planning matrix.
The participants were taken on a field
visit to the nearby project village
where they applied the different
techniques of participatory approach
and undertook all the processes for
problem identification, problem
prioritization, resource allocation and
formulation of village health plan
and ratification of plans prepared
by VHSC at the wider Gram Sabha.
Overall the training was not only
enjoyable and beneficial for the
participants, but also left them with a
clear understanding and appreciation
of the participatory approach. •
II
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Popfbcus
Magb Mela HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
Awareness Rally at Magh Mela
The auspicious Magh Mela is so
called as it falls in the Magh
months of January-February, starting
on Makar Sankranti. This annual
religious event or the great bathing
festival is a smaller version of the
gigantic Kumbh Mela that is held once
every 12 years. Sangam, the
confluence of the rivers Ganga,
Yamuna and the Saraswati, in
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh hosts this
annual Magh Mela. A large number
of local people and tourists participate
in this mela. It starts on a full moon
day and lasts for 15 days and attracts
thousands of pilgrims, who come for
a holy dip in Sangam.
With the support of Population
Foundation of India, UPSACS,
UNICEF, INP+, DACC (Allahabad),
Uttar Pradesh Welfare for People
Living with HIV / AID Society
(UPNP+) organized a silent
rally 'Magh Mela HIV/ AIDS
Awareness Campaign' at the
Magh Mela, Allahabad. The objective
of the rally was to spread correct
and complete information about
HIV/ AIDS by the positive people
among the general population,
disseminate right information
regarding HIV/ AIDS to reduce stigma
and discrimination, build the capacity
of People Living with HIV/ AIDS
and motivate them for effective
participation to prevent the spread of
HIV/ AIDS. The theme of the silent
rally was "We Live a Healthier Life,
We Prevent New HIV Infections".
The spiritual saint, Sri Murari Das Ji
Maharaj (Rishikesh, Haridwar) and
Dr. S. A. Mishra (AIDS Officer,
Allahabad) inaugurated the rally.
The Chief Guest, Mr. Merrajudin
Khan, Regional Publicity Officer,
Information & Broadcasting Ministry,
Government of India was also present
at the inauguration.
Around eighty HIV/ AIDS positive
people from different districts of Uttar
Pradesh participated in the rally. They
distributed IEC materials, leaflets and
brochures to a large number of
people including pilgrims, sweepers,
II
shop keepers, police and NSS. The
participants of the rally also engaged
in discussion with people, who were
unable to read the IEC materials and
informed them about HIV/ AIDS in a
simple way. The rally aimed to
develop a connection between the
positive people with the general
population and to create an optimistic
view about positive people, which was
successful in its endeavour.
The peer educators felt the need for
a communication tool, while
interacting with the People Living
with HIV/ AIDS (PLHA) at the grass
root level, to disseminate correct
information about HIV / AIDS.
Keeping this in mind, PFI has
developed an informative IEC kit
consisting of a diary for peer educator,
two flip books on 'Living with
HIV/AIDS' and 'Managing HIV/
AIDS' and four leaflets on HIV/ AIDS.
These materials are used in outreach,
support group meetings and
interaction meetings of PLHA.
The State and Regional units of
Population Foundation of India had
organized orientation workshops for
IEC in their respective states
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1.9 Page 9 |
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and regions. Participants from
Community Care Centres and the
District and State Level Networks
attended these workshops. The IEC
materials gave clear information
about positive prevention, ART and
treatment adherence, home based
care and positive living.
Computerised Management
Information System (CMIS)
Training
Under the Global Fund Round 6
'Promoting Access to Care and
Treatment' (PACT) Programme, PFI-
PMU has developed CMIS for
Community Care Centres (CCC) and
District Level Networks (DLNs). The
CMIS for DLN has been pre-tested
in Ajmer DLN and would be finalised
by the end of April, 2009. After pre-
testing of CCC CMIS in Meerut CCC,
the first phase of the CCC-CMIS
training was organised for staff from
44 CCCs across the eight states.
On the basis of the feedback received
from different trainings, the CMIS has
been finalised and implemented.
The training was highly appreciated
by the participants.
Exposure Visit of Southern
States to Manipur
A team of six members from the
Round 4 'Access to Care and
Treatment' (ACT) programme state
unit offices of Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh of PFI visited Manipur for an
PopJOcus
exposure trip from 27th January to
1st February, 2009. The objectives
of the visit were to understand the
links between the Injecting Drug
Users (IDUs)and HIV/ AIDS, the role
of DLNs and Positive Living Centres
in improving the quality of life of the
PLHAs and to learn the mechanism
adopted to improve ART adherence
and IDU rehabilitation.
•
Contd. from page 2
to population stabilization is a
necessity. "
Mr. A.R. Nanda, Executive Director,
PFI gave the vote of thanks.
The first JRD Tata Memorial awards
were presented by Shri I. K. Gujral,
Prime Minister of India in1997. The
first Tata award for the best
performing state was given to Kerala.
Awards for the best performing
districts were given to three districts,
namely, Palakkad in Kerala
(inthe large population size category),
Toothukudy in Tamil Nadu (in the
medium population size category) and
Kurukshetra in Haryana (in the small
population size category).
The second JRD Tata Memorial
Awards were given in 2001 by
Dr. C. P. Thakur, Union Minister
of Health and Family Welfare.
The second JRD Tata Memorial
Award for the best performing State
was given to Tamil Nadu. Awards for
the best performing districts were
given to three districts, namely,
Chennai in Tamil Nadu (in the large
population size category), Alappuzha
in Kerala (in the medium population
size category) and Jorhat in Assam
(inthe small population size category).
Awards were also given to the best
performing districts in the not so good
performing states. In this category,
the districts of Dehradun in Uttar
Pradesh, Purbi Singhbhum in Bihar
and Cuttack in Orissa were adjudged
the winners.
The third JRD Tata Memorial Award
for the best performing state was given
by Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat,
Vice President of India in 2003 to
Himachal Pradesh. Awards for the best
performing districts were given to
three districts, namely, West Godavari
in Andhra Pradesh (in the large
population category), Churu in
Rajasthan (in the medium population
category) and Lahul & Spiti in
Himachal Pradesh (in the small
population category). Awards were
also given to the best performing
districts in the not so good performing
states. In this category, the districts of
Ri Bhoi in Meghalaya, Ranchi in
Jharkhand and Bhagalpur in Bihar
were adjudged the winners.
•
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Pophcus
Health Promotion lor Adolescent Girls: A Project lor Change
Most often it is seen that poor
economic conditions lead to
unhealthy behavior including the
water and sanitation habits of people.
But here is an example, where age-
old practices and not the economic
conditions lead to threatening health
conditions like iron deficiency anemia.
Ganjam district in Orissa, continues
with the practice of not using toilet
facilities.In spite of being able to afford
building toilet facilities, people
continue to choose open defecation
leading to anemia. It affects adolescent
girls more as they need more iron in
their blood to grow up and prepare
themselves for motherhood. In most
of the cases, in rural Ganjam,
adolescent girlsend up getting married
much too soon, invitingiron deficiency
leading to maternal and infant
mortality/morbidity .
Considering the above situation, PH
has supported a project titled
"Reduction of Iron Deficiency Anemia
and Awareness on Reproductive and
Sexual Health among Adolescent Girls"
in 25 villagesof Ganjam Block, Orissa,
with the help of MultiApplied Systems
(MAS)as the implementing agency.
It has been observed that people are
getting more aware and changing their
behavior, when the process is left to
them. In the baseline survey, it was
found that the prevalence of hook
worm infestation was 14%, Round
worm infestation was 16%, tapeworm
1% and surprisingly, HNana 11%.
99% of the people were found anemic.
n alii
dO"n-<S.,or~Adol
__
--..1
C••.•••
Pera=::l corntnunlcatlon
of !ton Doficlen<y-.
09, Red C'on Trlinl~C."b"
-.8BSIl
When people begin to understand the
effects of their behaviour on their
health affecting their socio-economic
condition, they do make an effort
towards behaviour change.
Earlier, the target for stool collection
was 2000. Due to the prevailing
conditions in Ganjam district, it was
revised to 1000. However, it is
expected that the final stool testing
figure would go beyond the targeted
figure.
This fact is well established from the
stool testing. Collecting stool from the
open defecation is treated to be a
"dirty" act and hence adolescents
would hesitate to bring the stool
samples for testing. Using slippers
during open defecation was also not
a general habit. However, due to
the effective interpersonal communi-
cation work and convergence of the
programme with Women & Child
Department's Kishori Clubs (under
KSY), visible effects can be seen.
The Kishori Clubs organize interactive
meetings for adolescents in remote
villages involving them in various
in-house competitions like debates,
essay, quiz, song, mural painting
etc. Topics include adolescent
reproductive and sexual health, which
includes iron deficiency anemia.
The mural paintings are attractive,
which make them more involved,
as it is a household art for women
in rural Orissa. Ms. Sarajbala
Pattanaik, CDPO of Ganjam Block,
was of the opinion that the
programme is unique as it has given
support to the current government
programme.
It is hoped that the project would be a
model for Government to adopt. •
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Pop.Jbcus
Workshop on JSY,Swasthva Panehavat & VHSe
Center for Labour Education and
Social Research (CLEAR) is a
Mother NGO working in Raipur
and Rajnandgaon districts of
Chhattisgarh. The NGO works
closely with the respective district
health societies and ensures the
involvement of its field NGOs at block
and district levels in order to
implement the RCH-II programme
well and to reinforce the government
implementations in the programme.
CLEAR has conducted many
capacity building programmes for
FNGOs. CLEAR organized a
workshop on Janani Suraksha Yojna
(JSY), Swasthya Panchayat and
Village Health & Sanitation
Committees (VHSC) on January 14,
2009 at Raipur.
The objectives of the workshop were
to (i)sensitize the department on the
issues which emerged from the
project areas in JSY, VHSC and
Swasthya Panchayat Yojna, (ii)
workout suitable strategies for
ensuring the benefits of JSY to the
beneficiaries, and (iii) build capacity
of the FNGOs and other stakeholders
for advocacy with the department on
these issues. The participants included
the field workers and programme
coordinators of six FNGOs from both
the districts, Mitanins, AWWs, PRI
members and representatives from
Block Medical Offices. The workshop
was facilitated by the District
Programme Managers
and RRC-PFI Coordinator
at Raipur.
The workshop started with
the basic information on
the programmes and the
participants shared the
problems and issues
encountered in the field.
After going through the
entire process, many
issues were addressed by
the District Programme
Managers (DPMs). The official delay
in releasing the money to the
beneficiaries of JSY were taken note
. of by the DPM, Ms. Anupama Tiwari.
She also elaborated on the latest
government programmes and
the scope of MNGOs/FNGOs
involvement in district planning and
other programmes.
A suitable strategy was designed to
ensure institutional delivery with JSY
benefits, making the Panchayats as
Swasthya Panchayats and increase
the involvement of FNGOs for
strengthening programme imple-
mentation. The tracking of pregnant
women and children were also
planned in nearby villages along with
the project villages. The work
progress of FNGOs was shared
amongst the participants and the
MNGOs further elaborated on MIS of
the programme.
•
The following were the important
outcomes which emerged from the
Summit:
• Deliberations of the Summit led
to creation of pressure forums
and right policy environment
for promoting sustainable
communities and sustainable use
of natural resources and
promotion of sustainable
livelihood.
• A platform was promoted for
critical assessment of different
community level models on
indigenous mechanism of
biodiversityconservation facilitating
curbing of unsustainable energy use
and promotion of sustainable
energy, which provided adequate
feedback and insight to policy
makers, corporate actors and
development activists.
• A feedback was provided to
international agencies, civilsociety
and government for envisaging
strategic plan on advocacy, action
research and collaborative
intervention towards promoting
stakeholders-oriented biodiversity
conservation, environmental
governance and initiate sustainable
development intervention through
p,articipatory approach.
• Critical assessment of corporate
sustain ability and development of
business strategy by corporate
world was focused.
•
m
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PopJOcus
Abortions leave China with 32m extra boys
Paris: Selective abortion in favour of males has left China
with 32 million more boys than girls, creating an
imbalance that will endure for decades, an investigation
released on Friday warned.
The probe provides ammunition for those experts who
predict China's obsession with a male heir will sow a
bitter fruit as men facing a life of bachelorhood fight for
a bride.
"Although some imaginative and extreme solutions have
been suggested, nothing can be done now to prevent
this imminent generation of excess men," says the paper,
published online by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
In most countries, males slightly outnumber females -
between 103 and 107 male births for every 100 female
births. But in China and other Asian countries, the sex
ratio has widened sharply as the traditional preference
for boys is reinforced by the availability of cheap
ultrasound diagnostics and abortion.
This has enabled Chinese couples to use pregnancy
termination to prevent a female birth, a practice that is
officially condemned as well as illegal.
In China, an additional factor has been the "one-child"
policy. Parents who have second child are liable to pay
a fine and contribute disproportionately towards the
child's education. But in some provinces, a second child
is permitted if the first is a girl or if parents are
experiencing "hardship."
In the paper, Zhejiang university professors Wei Xing
Zhu and Li Lu and Therese Hesketh of University College
London found that in 2005 alone, China had more than
1.1 million excess male births.
Among Chinese aged below 20, the greatest gender
imbalances were among one-to-four-year-olds, where
there were 124 male to 100 female births, with 126 to
100 in rural areas, they found.
Source: The Times of India, New Delhi
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Dr. Subrato Kumar Mondal, who has joined the Foundation as Senior Research Advisor-
cum-Manager in February 2009. He has Ph.D. in Population Studies, International Institute
of Population Studies, Mumbai. He has more than 16 years experience in the field of research,
evaluation and teaching. Prior to this, he has worked with UNICEF, NCAER, Child In Need
Institute (CINI)and Centre for Media Studies.
Dr. K. K. Upadhyay, who has joined the Foundation as Senior Advisor-cum-New Programme
Development Manager in February 2009. He is from the first batch of IRMA and has a rich
experience, more than 27 years of professional experience in the development sector.
He has worked as Advisor, Programme Director, Associate Professor and Chief Executive in
various National and International Organizations. He is a trained moderator and an expert
trainer, conducted and commissioned research studies.
Mr. Manoj Kumar Kandher, who has joined the Foundation as Programme Associate
(Advocacy and Communication). A development communication professional earlier worked
as Deputy Director (IEC)in Orissa State AIDS Control Society, Bhubaneswar, implementing
the advocacy, communication, social mobilization part of National AIDS Control Programme
(NACP)-lII. He has successfully conducted campaigns in both mass media as well as in field,
one being Red Ribbon Express in Orissa.
Dr. Abhilasha M Rathod, who has joined the Foundation as S.LE Associate for PHs
Global Fund Sixth Round HIV/AIDS project. She has Ph.D. from Delhi University in
Demographic Anthropology. She has eight years working experience in the field of Social
Research on various issues like HIV/ AIDS, gender (gender based violence, female rights),
education, migration among others. Prior to this, she has worked with FAITH Health Care
Pvt. Ltd., Indian Society for Applied Research & Development (ISARD),JPS Associates Pvt.
Ltd. and Kashmir Education, Culture and Science Society.
Ms. Leena Krishnan, who has joined the Foundation as Accounts Officer for PHs Global
Fund Sixth Round HIV/ AIDS project. She is a Chartered Accountant with four years of
industry experience. Prior to this, she was working in Idea Global, Singapore as Assistant
Manager.
We bade
farewell to ...
Dr. Kumudha Aruldas
worked with PFI as Additional
Director in March 2009. She
has joined Population Council
as Senior Programme Officer.
Mr. Subrat Mohanty worked
for PFI's Global Fund Fourth
Round HIV/ AIDS project as
Senior Programme Manager in
January 2009. He has joined
the Union South East Asia
Office, International Union
against Tuberculosis and Lung
Diseases, New Delhi as
National Technical Officer.
Mr. Sushil Kumar Pandey
worked for PR's Global Fund
Sixth Round HN / AIDS project
as Accounts Officer in February
2009. He has joined ICCO,
The Netherlands South Asia
Regional office as Finance
Officer.
Editorial Guidance
Mr A.R. Nanda
Ms Sona Sharma
Editor
Ms Chandni Malik
Editorial Assistance
Ms Jolly Jose
Editorial Committee
Ms Usha Rai
Dr Almas Ali
Dr Kumudha Aruldas
Dr Lalitendu Jagatdeb
Dr Sharmila G. Neogi
Published by
Population Foundation of India
B-28, Qutab InstitutionalArea, New Delhi-110016, India
Tel: 91-11-42899770,42899771
Fax: 91-11-42899795
e-mail:popfound@sify.com
website:www.popfound.org