 |
Focus 2001 October - December |
|
|
1 Pages 1-10 |
▲back to top |
|
|
1.1 Page 1 |
▲back to top |
Foeus
Volume XV No.4
October-December
2001
POPULATION ENVIRONMENT DEVEILOPMENiT
A BULLETIN OF POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
STATE LEVEL CONFERENtCE IN PUNE
HEALTH DEVELOPMENT& POPULATION STABILIZATION AND RELATED DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
Eopulation Foundation of India
organized a two-day State-
o_--_oo_---o--olevelCo nfe ren ceo n·Ji Hea lth,
of India, who also released a Wall Chart
on Maharashtra Population and
Development: 2001 and District Profile
most populous State in the country
with a population of 96.75 million as
on 1St March 2001. It continues to
Development and
,.
Population Stabi-
grow at a high
rate with the
lization and
decadal growth
related Develop-
rate of 22.57 per
ment Issues" at
cent during 1991-
Yeshwantrao
2001, higher than
Chavan Academy
the
national
of Development
average of 21.34
....,...Administration,
per cent. It conti-
Pune on 4-5
nues to have a
October 2001.
relatively high
The Honourable
fertility rate in
/ Chief Minister,
;i,#!;,'''Jj
(tJ!:;hri Vilasrao
spite of strong
family planning
~ Deshmukh, who
programme in the
was to inaugu-
rate the Confe-
rence could not
Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman, PF~ releasing a Wall Chart on Maharashtra Population and Development
: 2001 at the Inauguration of the Conference at Pune. Others are (from left) Begum Bilkees Latif,
Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, Members, Governing Board, PFI, Dr K Srinivasan, Executive Director,
PFI, Mr B G Deshmukh and Dr Banoo J Coyajl, Members, Governing Board, PFI.
past. Most disturb-
ing is the decline
in the sex ratio of
come and sent a
its population in
message to be read during the of Maharashtra brought out by the 0-6 age group from 946 females per
Inauguration. The Conference was Foundation.
lOOO males in 1991 to 917 in 2001,
formally inaugurated by Dr Bharat
As per the latest census, the decline by 29 points in a decade, an
Ram, Chairman, Population Foundation State of Maharashtra is the second
(Continued on page 10)
~1tO' n Gfher Pages
.Ujata=-c()mrTlUfli~i~~~i6;er()gr~~~.~••<•.....
, • 7th JRD Tata MemorialOration
.; DatlrainingProgr~ITIIT1~~t.~.Fl;>,
~ • Pragatf Ka Dwar ~Panchayati Raj
5. • • Health Services to.UrbanSlurns: PHs Efforts
.-. - Empowerment. of PanchayatrRaf rr.1Sfimtforis:;:o o-.'o°5".-·-----·-·i--EVarUalibnOCprb]eCffaffd~es~ons Learnt
• Kusumale-Community Radio programrne
6 •••• !. New Initiativesby th~fClundation
|
|
1.2 Page 2 |
▲back to top |
Community Radio: Window of
Opportunity for Development
During the past few years, All India Radio has
initiated the selting up of FM Radio Stations at the
district level. which are low-powered transmitters
catering to about 50 to 80 sq.km. area or roughly
the population in one or two districts.
Radio continues to have an innate mass
appeal in the Indian society and has a substantial
reach in the rural population. Setting up of the
transmission Centers at the district level offers a
unique opportunity of carrying various educational;
health and population related messages to the
people in as close a cultural context as is possible..
The programmes developed at the national level
with general messages on health, sanitation,
reproductiveand child health, promOtionof literacy
and education, gender empowerment.-family
planning may not be culturally sensitive to the
norms and desires of local population,
In the Seventies,dl.lrinirrndia'II"Greeh'--
Revolution.'Prof M S Swaminathanused theiadio
as a means to reach to the farmers and involve
them in the process of restructuring the entire
system of agriculture. All India Radio; et1couraged
._,.' .... " ._, by the 'success;'settllfsmall'1KW'ra<!ilT'Stat!0ns:In'"
semi-urban .and rural areas and develoPed them
into local radio statfons.~lo.
Iirieli,of
community radio.in other pilrt$ Ilf' ....•.... :: •. '
Population Foundatiorrof !lldl!t·to.1>~~lJ
initiative of developing i\\Vo
. . ·adio .
. Programmes, one for Sonbllli
Pradesh and another f
Karnataka. TheJwo progl'alll!lle~;m-\\nam6<t;'
'i~..' "Ujala" for Uttar Pradesh andJ'~..or'
Kamataka. In "UJala"programme.. <
in Hindi, 30 minutes dU~(lIl'~~\\~~~~~~"~~
major health and social devefo~i$$~ne;'
scripts are invitedfrom thil ern'
.
well-oriented with thecust~,
of the rural community.'KuSumalB'fs:
programme in Kannadacontainlngihtelyl~~;'$l<ilS:' '.
and information' related to.health,anqi '
development issues specialTy.1oC.
community,Soligas. Foundationpurell
time from AIR, Obra for UttarPradilslt ... 1\\iR,'
Bangalore for Kamataka for b~~o(c.th~S2
episode series every week:AIRtooitthe
responsibility of recordll)g th§.prpgm!'!!!'~~_lW<I\\.
simultaneously broadcasting them from··their
stations. The Foundation also selected an IIIGO
partner, who helped in motivating the Commonity
to listen to the Radio programmesJnboththe
States, Banwasi Seva Ashram in Sonbhadia and
Vivekananda Girijan Kalyan Kendra in Bangalore•..
Mid-term evaluationof these two programmes
have indicated a considerable impact of these
programmes on the local populationwnh regard to
an increase in the level of knowledge, change of
attitudes and possible changes in their behaviour
towards more healthy and planned life.
CHIEF MINISTER
I
••••
MAHARASHTRA
I am glad to know that a conference on 'Health,
Development and Population Stabilisation Issues in
Maharashtra' is being organised under the negis of
the Population Foundation of India at Pune on October
4, 2001.
In view of the relatively high fertility rate
in spite of the strong family planning programme in
the past, the Government of Maharashtra has taken
bold initiatives to control the alarming growth in
population. The 'State Government has adopted a new
population policy which lays emphasis on preventing
marriages before the attainment of legal age,
reducing birth rate to 2.1 by 2004, from the present
rate of 2.4 bringing down the infant mortality rate
from the current 49 to 25 within the next 3-4 years
and improving the overall family, health, especially
the health of the children and mothers.
I compliment the Population Foundation of India
for taking a timely initiative to organise the
conference to focus the attention on impediments -
political, economic, social, demographic and( ..
bureaucratic, in the implementation of population"
control programme. I hope, the participating
academics, representatives of NGOs and Government
will recommend realistic solutions to the population
problem in Maharashtra. The State Government, I
assure will give a serious thought to these
recommendations.
It is understood that more than 375 districts
in the country will be having such low-powered
transmitters and this offers a useful window. ,of
opportunity to develop health and educational
programmes at the district level and Radi~canbe
.... ··.·.·-·~,:::~r--·---_·· used as an effectivemediumof communicationfor
such programmes in the rural population.
~~'t
(Vilasrao Deshmukh) ,
(Dr. K"§rinivas;;)
|
|
1.3 Page 3 |
▲back to top |
SEVENTH JRD TATA MEMORIAL ORATION
"Roles and Responsibilities of Panchayats in Population,
Health and Development"
Population Foundation of India
organized its seventh JRD Tata
Memorial Oration on Tuesday,
.the 4th December 2001, in the
evening ,at Bombay House, Mumbai.
Hon'ble Chief Minister of Madhya
Pradesh, 5hri Digvijay SinIh delivered
the Oration. Dr Bharat 1WIs, Chairman,
Population Foundation of India
".,-presided over the function. Dr K
!(~Srinivasan,
Executive Director,
'---wetcomedthe-galaxy
of participants
who were from Tata Group of
Industries,
Non-Governmental
Organizations of Mumbai, Government
Representatives of Maharashtraand
Madhya Pradesh.
Shrl Digvijay SIngh, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh delivering Seventh JRD Tata Memorial
Oration. Others are (from left) Mrs Avabal B Wadia, Governing Board Member, PFI, Dr Bharat Ram,
Chairman, PA and Dr K Srinivasan, Executive Director, PA
Shri Digvijay Singh, before
speaking on the Roles and
Responsibilities of Panchayats, drew
~ the attention of the audience on
Demographic Transition which is
taking place in India, especially in
some of those States that were the
/~ "laggered" States.
••..'<i:
the national growth rate has reduced
from 23.82 to 21.34 during the decades
1981-91 and 1991-2001, population
growth of Madhya Pradesh has come
down from 27.24 to 24.34. He
mentioned that this has happened
largely due to the
impact of Pancha-
..M. ad hy aP ra.desh ..-7~:PA~9~'(~1"IRJ''''HAS
yati Raj system in
,
plans. Citing the example of Madhya
Pradesh, the honourable Chief Minister
said that out of its 45 districts, 14
districts needed attention, as they had
not shown a declining trend in
population growth rate. Madhya
Pradesh could do better because of its
strong framework of decentralization
and effective Panchayati Raj System.
alongwith Uttar
9Fl~TEPANEW
the State.
Pradesh, Bihar, .. S~RATEGICARCHITECTURE
Rajasthan
and .. TOMOVEPEOPLE OUT OF
Orissa accounted "TffE"PROBt:EMBOX" INTO
for 45 per c~nt of
total population of
. THE"SOLunONBOX" ..
While reflect-
ing on the pop-
ulation problem in
India, Shri Digvijay
the !=ountry after
Singh said that now
the 1991 census. Now, as per 2001 there is a need to move beyond the
census, he mentioned, there are States and focus on "problem Districts"
He fu1'ttler mentioned that Madhya
Pradesh is now evolving Gram Swaraj
through legislation and is trying to
have not only a district-specific
strategy, but also looking at different
bttrcks where population growth has
been higher.
.citing a few more examples of
'(;stirrings of change in Madhya Pradesh, within the States. There is a need to Madhya Pradesh promoting Panchayati
which has recorded a reduction in its evolve State-specific Strategies and Raj system, he added that Madhya
rate of growth of population. While within them district-specific action Pradesh ~as created a partnership with
|
|
1.4 Page 4 |
▲back to top |
governments have been empowered to
intervene in areas that can affect
population stabilization - be it health,
education, nutrition, safe water
supply, sanitation or' poverty
reduction. They have to be conceived
as co-planners, in fact as key planners
if population policies seek to benefit
from the energies and the resources
that Panchayats can catalyze.
Panchayats
when genuinely
empowered can deepen the campaign
for population reduction. Panchayats
can also initiate and lead the multi-
A view on informal Interaction of Shri Dlgvljay Singh with participants. Others are Dr Bharat Ram,
Chairman, PFI, Mrs Avabal B Wadla, Mr B G Deshmukh, Members, Governing Board, PFI
sectoral action at the grassroots levelC"
that is a population planner's dream. ',-
'paricnayats to meet the challenge of
Universal Primary Education through
"Education Guarantee Scheme". Since
1997, the State is able to establish
26,000 EGSschools through Panchayat
partnership. In the area of adult
Guarantee, Scheme has been
developed. A community health
activist in the form of a barefoot
doctor or Jan Swasthya Rakshak will
be trained in each village. Madhya
Pradesh government intends to provide
He concluded with a statement
that "Our population challenge is a
matter of people, we must now make
it a matter to the people through
Panchayats".
literacy, Madhya Pradesh attempted a such a service in all 51,000 villages
An informal interaction se~sion
new strategy called the "Padhna by December 2002.
was held after the lecture to facilitate
Badhna Andolan". With the support of The scheme was
the audience to
the Government, through a year-long
campaign in the year 2000, 3 million
people have been made literate. This
effort has been reflected in the 2001
Census results, where Madhya Pradesh
registered an increase of 20 per cent
in literacy, from 44% to 64%. Female
initiated by the
State Government
of Madhya Pradesh
in 1997 and more
than 18,000 Jan
Swasthya Rakshaks'
have already been
OUR POPULATION
CHALLENGE IS A MATTER
_ " ...•..,.._._,-.'..,.,.'>,._,
OF PEOPLE, WE MUST NOW
MAKE IT A MATTER TO THE
PEOPLE THROUGH
'PANCHAYATS
exchange their
views with Shri
Digvijay Singh.
Mrs Avabai B
Wadia, former ()
President of Family
Planning Asso- r
literacy registered an increase of 23 in place in a
ciation of India
per cent, a rate higher than that of number of villages. They have not only and Member, Governing Board,' PH,
the three preceding decades put performed in an excellent manner, but gave a vote of thanks to the Orator as
together, winning for the State the also have become important persons' well as the key listeners.
country's Decadal Achievement Award in the community.
in female literacy.
The Honourable Chief Minister
Before the lecture started,'a film
on the contributions of Population
He further added that the major also reflected on the Madhya Pradesh Foundation of India from the last three,
determining factor in population Population Policy, which has some decades in Population Stabilization \\-
stabilization is infant mortality. minor coercive elements and some programmes - A New Horizon - was \\
Decentralized
Health Service promotional
elements. Local screened.
•
|
|
1.5 Page 5 |
▲back to top |
i~PRA:GAT~lKA DWAR ~ PAlNlCHAYATl RAJ"i~
Telecast through Gyan Darshan, a Channel of Indira Gandhi National Open University
To reach a Larger audience of
decision-makers of the ruraL
communities Uke Panchayati Raj
members, ~ommunity Leaders,
spokespersons, family eLders, various
groups of mahiLa/purush mandaLs and
generaL pubLic, through eLectronic
media, PopuLation Foundation of India
has prepared 14 moduLes in video, .30
minutes duration each, based on paneL
discussions, generaL information,
awareness through roLe pLays etc., on
popuLation, heaLth and social
deveLopment issues. Nine moduLes for
empowerment of Panchayati Raj
Institutions in a series "Pragati Ka
Dwar : Panchayati Raj" and five
for HeaLth Service Providers in the
villages.
The video programmes are being
teLecast through Gyan Darshan every
Sunday, from 7.00 to 7.30a.m. and
repeat teLecast in the evening from
7.00 to 7.30p.m.
•
.'" f oputation f?uirdati,
"with Non:-Governmentat.O
:,"';J,,,,';:':~':i:-4~~~t,!~L:",'.
.,'::.;
• ,< :':',,'
, ~'~"':-
,;:,~~"
••:.,
,.
; :,:,:, ••
P are workingWith.Paric
conductedth~ training" pro
....- ...",Jrainers"using.tbe.video,.program
health and. social develop
traini~g progr~rnme~was,
"'Maharajgan~w ,
. : ,', '" .,- :,'". ~""':/>';";>~;">;':
involving 32.vi "
(C~ .A~ef-theramtn 0
':'-:Jounda"
,"
~,.;,.',.,.:",,:;~..:;.'/-,M ,:,~~" ;:'
,-:;1"":: ' ;';;':;;:;'::-,1'
""trainingprogtammes!in~1~
.
to 565 participants.;:About 90
",e partic;ipams
wer~'~~~;n-irom:S~Lf-HetpGroups~hd' Pan~hayat
Me~be~~~fh~"f~sfJe5C:ove~~(Fdl:uing the training
programmes were Sensitization of men and women on
gender issues; literacy and Education; Commondiseases
and its prevention; FamilyPlanning; Safe Motherhood;
Population Education; Importance and use of safe
-1 drinking water.
,,;, 'The'above
e was based on sensitization of
the women PanchayatMe'inbers, as there is almost 90% .
iLtiteracyamong' the women Panchayat Members.
By constant exposure to video fitms, they can be
empowered With information and motivated to bring
attitudinal changes in their own Lifestyle and work for
the community itself.
|
|
1.6 Page 6 |
▲back to top |
$~}{USUMALE" ...Community Raidjio Program~lle
PFI'S RE-BROADCAST PROGRAMME ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
in Mishra Madhurya over Vividh Bharathi through All India Radio, Bangalore and Mysore,
to Empower Panchayats and the Community on Health and Social Development Issues
The "Kusu.maLe" programme is
re-broadcast
in "Mishra
Madhurya" programme. With
F.M., the reach of CBS has been wider,
covering districts LikeTumkur, Mandya
and KoLar apart from seven F.M.
stations viz., .Madikeri, Hassan,
Chitradurga, Hospet, Karwar,
Bijapur and Raichur, from 4.30
to 5.00pm on aLLTuesdays with
effect from 3'dJuLy 2001.
KusumaLe is a 52 episode
_o----'mifgaziii e-pr6gi'affime "i n
Kannada, which contains
interviews, skits, information
reLated to heaLth and sociaL
deveLopment issues specially
focussed to the tribaL commu-
nity/ SoLigas. Vivekananda
Girijan KaLyan Kendra assisted
the Foundation for advocacy of
the programme among the tribaL
0
community. EarLier, the first
episode of the drama series,
Kusumale went on air with
effect from November 1/ 2000/
once in a week on Thursdays at
7.00p.m, on the Rajyothsava
day that marks the birth of the
State.
The series covered seven
core areas such as Reproductive
and ChiLd HeaLth, Family PLanning,
Gender Equity, Literacy, Water SuppLy
and Sanitation, PopuLation and
DeveLopment issues and RoLes and
ResponsibiLities of Panchayats.
To study its reach and impact
after the first broadcast in Banjara
Hills among the soLigas, AIR-
BangaLore, did the Mail Survey after
the broadcast of 26 episodes,
specifically to ~tudy the quaLitative
aspects of the programmes in addition
to study the reach effectiveness. The
MaiL Survey approach was the onLy
feasibLe way of reaching out to the
reguLar Listeners as they were scattered
a;LLover Mysore District. A thorough
search was made with the Letters that
had been received, to identify
somewhat reguLar Listeners. Two
hundred and fifty such Listeners were
identified who eventuaLLy comprised
the sampLe. These 250 listeners were
sent a questionnaire based on the
information needed; such as regularity
in Listening to different episodes;
expectation from the series; whether
the programmes were interested,
/'"
attractive and informative; suitabiLity
of time of broadcast and duration of
programmes and whether the
programme is Listened individuaLLy or
with the famiLy. The response
was received from 128
listeners.
Out of 128 respondents, ()
73 (57%) were maLes and 55' l
(43%) were females. A vast
majority among them were
young (84.4%) and over 60 per
cent were u~dergraduates,
while 34 per cent were
graduates. Cent-per cent had
access to Radio. The mother
tongue of 94 per cent was
Kannada.
The question in the '-,-
questionnaire probed to know
as to what made the series
interesting. Although, 49 per
cent heLd the view that the
a customs and practices of
Soligas that were broached .,
made the programmes
~-
interesting, 27 per cent shared '
the opinion that meaningful
collection of information and
their good presentation evoked keen
interest. Nine per cent said that ideas
about the empowerment of women
made an impression on the Listeners.
Regular listening to Radio was
observed among 73 per cent of the '\\,c.
respondents while 23 per cent Listened (
frequentLy and 5 per cent onLy .
occasionaLly.
•
i
|
|
1.7 Page 7 |
▲back to top |
~~;U,JALA",~C'(oimm,un,ity 'Radle ,Programr'rle
PFI'S RE-BROADCAST PROGRAMME ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
through All India Radio, Rampur, to empower Panchayats and the community on Health and Social Development issues
Panchayats are imparted knowledge on pertinent health and social development issues through Radio programme,
UJALAfrom ALLIndia Radio, Rampur covering districts of Rampur, Muradabad, JP Nagar, BareiLLy,Badaun, Pillibhit,
.
Udamsingh Nagar in Uttaranc~al and some parts of Nainital (Haldwani)
Earlier Population Foundation of India started a
Community Radio Programme 'Ujala' through ALLIndia
Radio, Obra Station in Hindi, based on different stories
reflecting' on health and social development issues. The
series contained 52 episodes of 30 minutes duration each.
By March 2002, 49 programmes have already been broadcast
from AIR-Obra and the response from the listeners from
Sonbhadra district is enormous. Around 1700 letters have
been received the AIR Station.
On receiving a good response from Obra Station, the
same series is being re-broadcast from All India Radio,
Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, from 7.30p.m. to 8.00p.m. on every
Wednesday. The first programme was aired on November
28, 2001. The programme was formally inaugurated. An
inaugural function was organised at Rampur in which Joint
Panchayat Members and Community gathered to listen Community Radio
Programme "Ujala"
Director(IEC) from Population Foundation of India
participated. The series will last till November 200? •
Motivating reasons for listening
to Kusumale was to know the customs
and practices of Soliga; to seek and
get new information; to have an
understanding of rural life; to get some
guidance to fight false beliefs among
the rural people etc.
Although 46 per cent responded
that the customs and practices of
soligas was the newly found
information; but 15 per cent said that
the messages on gender equality and
problems arising from child marriage
were new acquisitions. 21 per cent
benefited by knowing about several
diseases and remedies for them and
11 per cent had gained awareness
about blind beliefs and realised the
importance of education.
•
A three-day Dai Training
Programme was organised at the
Foundation in November 2001. The
purpose of the training was to orient
the dais and the social animators in
the area of Rangpuri, located behind
Vasant Kunj area, where the
Foundation's mobile van visits every
week with a medical doctor to provide
health care facilities, induding ante-
natal and post-natal check-ups,
distribution of iron folic tablets to
pregnant women, family planning
services etc.
Dais who attended the training
programme, were illiterate and did not
receive any training in this respect
before but were practicing midwifery
for a notable duration of time. The
topics like anatomy and physiology of
the reproductive system, antenatal,
intranatal and postnatal care with
emphasis on 5 deans and the ways to
a hygienic delivery to ensure a healthy
mother and a healthy baby, knowledge
about RTIjSTD induding AIDS, basic
child care including universal
immunisation
schedule, and
identification and home management
of common childhood diseases, were
covered in detaiL. The medium of
discussion was simple Hindi and
related to their day-to-day experiences
in handling deliveries at home. •
|
|
1.8 Page 8 |
▲back to top |
Among several areas needing
immediate
attention,
Foundation took cognizance
• WITH MAHATMA GANDHI
INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL
SCIENCES, WARDHA
that the urban slum population is a
group which are hardly reached by the
current planning and work pattern of
public health and family welfare
system. Their unmet needs in terms
of family welfare and RCHservices were
considered to be the highest and very
potent in accelerating performance
results in Reproductive and Child and
Health and Family Welfare.
The Foundation in collaboration
with Community
Medicine
Department(CMD) of MGIMS, Wardha
took the initiative of implementing the
project with the help of Institute of
I netgra t e d Deve lopmen t , a Non -
Government Organization, in slum
areas of Nagpur and eight villages in
rural areas. The main objectives of the
project are to understand the
• WITH INDIAN MEDICAL .. attributes of reproductive health in
~··_···-ASSOCIATIOrf(rM-A),-ALiGARFf slums and rural areas of Nagpur; to
The Foundation,
in
association with Indian Medical
Association, selected slum areas of
Aligarh town covering nearly one 'lakh
decrease the morbidity and mortality
among neo-nates and women in 15-
49 age group and to promote spacing
methods of family planning.
population.
The project is
implemented through local NGOs
based at Aligarh. The -s~rength of the
project is gained by establishing five
"Health Posts" covering 20 thousand
population by each post. They are
manned by paramedical staff and
visited by a lady doctor once a week.
The services offered are care of mother
and child, contraceptive services
including Cu.T insertion, treatment of
RTI/STD, counselling. The workers are
also conducting regular door to door
visits in the area.
Apart from providing health
services through Health Posts, Health
melas are organised in which maximum
number of slum women participate.
Audio-visual shows and group
meetings are also organised on
Reproductive and Child Health issues.
The staff of the NGOhas been
trained by CMDon various components
of RCH. Advisory Committees are
formed for both rural and urban areas
and regular meetings are held.
Partnership has also been developed
with Government Sector. Reproductive
Health Clinics providing antenatal,
postnatal care, treatment of RTI/STD,
and counselling of contraceptive
services have also been established in
seven villages and- all slum areas in
collaboration with local authorities.
• WITH SOCIETY FOR HUMAN
&
ENVIRONMENTAL
DEVELOPMENT, MUMBAI
(SHED)
The Foundation in collaboration
with SHED implemented a project
"Integrated Health & Family Planning
Education in the entire slums of
Dharavi. The main objectives of the
project are to develop a formal
networking with all suitable
organisations and with community
'participation, an integrated and
sustainable Health and Family
Planning consciousness among the
people of Dharavi, with special
emphasis also on Mother and Child
Care, Adolescents and STD/HIV/AIDS.
The whole area has been divided
into 10 blocks. One female worker with
leadership potential has been selected
from each Mahila Mandal, and work
as community health promoter for that
area. She has also been trained on
health and social development
activities in order to work as Link
leader incharge of the blocks, assist~d
by girl volunteers and members of the
respective Mahila Mandals. Youth
groups and female social workers also
work with them to identify the
problems and needs of the community.
Target groups are women and children,
adolescent girls/youth; young married
girls; eligible couples; TBAs/Medical
personnel from other NGOs/Private
practitioners; school children/college
students. Camps and workshops are
regularly organized in different areas
by rotation for various target groups.
The topics covered are Mother and
Child Health Education, Immunization
and Water borne diseases, Family
Planning, Adolescence, STD/AIDs
awareness and environmental ~
sanitation.
|
|
1.9 Page 9 |
▲back to top |
The project "Empowerment of
Panchayati Raj Institutions in
Uttar Pradesh and Convergence
approach for promotion of
Reproducti've and Child Health"
implemented under the supervision
of PFI and Aligarh Muslim University
during April 2000 to December 2001,
has been evaluated by Mr T A Khan,
CREATE,Lucknow.
The . project had two
components. The first part of the
project aimed at developing the
!() capacity of panchayat members in
all the three tiers of Aligarh district
--- ..·----·.·withrespect to full-discharge of the
duties and responsibilities in the
field of population stabilisation and
related social development activities
in their respective areas and
secondly, to mobilise the community
based workers in Lodha block within
Aligarh district to work in close
liaison with panchayats and other
functionaries on Reproductive Health
...• issues.
The Foundation was keen to
have the feedback through a
qualitative evaluation to assess
whether the project has been able
to achieve its major objectives. The
study revealed that almost all CBD
workers had clear knowledge on the
RCHand family planning aspects and
understanding about the type of
services that needs to be given under
the ANCand PNCservices. As regards
immunization of children (0-5)
years, almost all CBDs had precise
knowledge about all the vaccines,
number of doses, interval between
doses and age of the child etc.
Majority of the beneficiaries
were aware of the project activities.
The women in the reproductive age
group easily identified CBDs and
confirmed that CBDsmotivated them
for family planning and helped
provided services. CBDs are well
accepted in the community.
CBD Convergence project has
great potential but there is a need
for sincere and well co-ordinated
efforts to impress upon the local
leaders that they have greater role
and stakes in the population control
programmes.
The project "Integrated
Programme for Outreach
Health Services and Promo-tion
of SmaLLFamily Norm" implemented by
NIAHRD in Cuttack with effect from
September 1997 ·for a period of 3 years,
was evaluated by Dr Haribandhu
Mohapatra, Head of the Department,
SCB Medical CoLLegeof Cuttack.
Major findings, with regard to
assessment of awareness, involvement
and utilisation of reproductive health
services by women 15-49 years, reveal
that in spite of early marriages not
many women had early first pregnancy,
which to a significant extent is a
positive improvement in reproductive
health. Acceptance of permanent
method was good in both urban and
rural areas. A good number of women
had knowledge of ante-natal care and
high risk during pregnancy.
Initiation of process of
population stabilisation by promoting
RCH services, income generation
activities and participatory processes
for education and mobilization of
women contributing towards women's
empowerment has been adequately
done by the project.
•
··----····.·.····:NEWINITIATIVES···By·.TME.···FOUIlDATION
IN COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY
• Intensive Family Welfare Project ill GunnourBlock, Badaun District in association with'Tata Chemicals Society
for Rural. Development ..._ ." ..
• Total Integrated Package for Dewas District in association with Ranbaxy Community Health Care Society,
Dewas (M.P.)
IN COLLABORATION WITH NGOS
• Community level Reproductive Health Rights Programme Targeting 21 remote DaHt villages of Darsi Mandai
Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh,in association with Training for Rural Economic and Education (TREE),
Andhra Pradesh.
-"
• Community Radio Programme in tribal areas of Malwa Belt in district Indore (MP) and its surroundings in
association with AIR-Indore and Bharatiya Grameen Mahila Sangh.
|
|
1.10 Page 10 |
▲back to top |
fertility and mortality, morbidity
indication of a widespread female
foeticide in the State. Though the
State is one of the most industrialized
States performing well in some of the
developmental indicators like literacy,
per-capita income etc., according to
the latest census, it is not performing
well in the recent years in population
and health related indicators like sex
ratio, prevalence of HIV/ AIDS, high
infant and child mortality etc.
conditions and RCH were discussed.
Prof. Sumati Kulkarni, Professor at
International Institute for Population
Sciences, analyzed the population
situation of Maharashtra to highlight
its achievements and to identify the
areas of concern, which are likely to
be critical constraints in the future
development in relation to RCH
programmes of the State.
Although district-wise analysis
revealed that decadal growth rate
To encompass major constraints, during 1991-2001 was higher than
the programme of the Conference was 1981-91, but region-wise analysis
-divided-intosix"substafltive--sessions;--'-'revealed that there was a decline in
Maharashtra, was also discussed
indepth. It was pointed out that this
decline may be because of the neglect
of the girl child leading to higher
mortality among girls than boys in
the age group 0-6 or abortions of
female foetus following the sex
determination tests leading to
distortion of sex ratio at birth.
Highlighting the Health
Constraints of Maharashtra, it was
suggested that though the position of
doctors and ANMsare filled at Primary
Health Centres, but a strict review and
constant. check has to be made on
their actual physical presence and
delivery of services. ANMs are to be
given extensive training for provision
of services in relation to Reproductive
and Child Health programmes. Health
care system should be shifted from
hospital base to community base .•
ICDS services are to be monitored
effectively. Apart from Health
Department, other Departments
should also be involved in the
programmes and inter-sectoral
approach should be adopted.
Dr S Salunke, Director General (H&FW), Government of Maharashtra, chairing the Valedictory
Session, others are (from left) Dr Mohan Dharia, President, VANARAI, Mr B G Deshmukh, Dr K
Srinivasan, Dr Bharat Ram.
To start with, Dr B P Thiagarajan,
Joint Director, PFI, made a
presentation on Situational Analysis
of Maharashtra on Population
Stabilization and Related Develop-
ment Issues in which overall
population situation of Maharashtra
covering almost all indicators, such as
sex ratio, literacy,~urrent levels of
the decadal growth rate in the last
decade, as compared to 1981-91 in all
the regions except Konkan region.
Decline was the highest in
Aurangabad. It was found that
uneven development was transparent
among the' regions of Maharashtra.
The issue of decline in sex ratio
of 0-6 population, great conCerniii
While discussing the economic
constraints, Dr Lalit Deshpande
discussed about globalization,
changing roles of public and private
sector and affect of globalization on
health care. It was recommended that
more investment should be made in
promotion of primary education and
measures should be taken to raise the
enrolment rate in primary schools. At
the same time, measures should also
be taken to reduce the drop-outs from
the high school, especially girl
children as the rate of dropouts of the
|
|
2 Pages 11-20 |
▲back to top |
|
|
2.1 Page 11 |
▲back to top |
girL children from high schools is very
high. He also suggested that regionaL
inequaLities in deveLopment shouLd be
reduced by appropriate re-aLLocation
of funds to different districts. Dr V S
Chitre suggested that the un-utiLized
medicaL resources can be shifted to
other hospitaLs where there are no
medicaL facilities to increase the
efficiency of the heaLth programmes.
.s in Maharashtra"
:erit Mministration.Pune
Age at marriage is one of the
major sociaL barriers reLated to aLL
heaLth and sociaL deveLop-ment
programmes in the State. Gram
i () Panchayats shouLd be fully invoLved
.._.. .__.io.-ca mpaigning. ..about .t.he ..deLay.in
the age at marriage of girLs. IEC
activities shouLd not restrict to
posters, radio or teLevision
Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman, PFI, addressing the Press Conference. Others are (from left) Prof Ranjit
Roy Chaudhury, Member, Governing Board, Dr K Srinivasan, Executive Director, PFI, Dr P M Dubey,
Director, Parivar Mangal Trust, Pune.
programmes, but shouLd be focussed Panchayats can make a major
on attitudinaL change of decision- contribution towards this endeavour.
makers, sub-caste Leaders, poLiticaL
Leaders as it is beyond the reaLm of
any individuaL househoLd to make any
fundamentaL change in the society.
Highlighting the bureaucratic
constraints, Mr J C Pant stressed on
decentraLization of powers to the
Panchayati Raj Institutions to reduce
Age group 20
the probLems of
to 29 must be
targeted
and
encouraged to use
spacing methods
to deLay the first
child as weLL as
spacing between
the first and the
.DECLINEIN. SEX RATIO OF
0-6 PQPULATION IS A
MArtER OF CONCERN IN
,'..•-.... "-", "-,",>,,,,~ .\\>,.,"'-". '-', .'.., ,-, .
MAHARASHTRA DUE TO
--SEX DETERMINATION TESTS
LEADING TO DISTORTION OF
SEX RATIO AT BIRTH. BUT, AT
THE SAME. TIME THERE IS A
STRONG DESIRE TO LIMIT
bureaucracy. There
shouLd be an
ideoLogicaL shift
in the paradigm of
bureaucrats from
collection and
controL of reso-
urces and respon-
second
child.
THE FAMILY SIZE AND ALSO
sibilities to that
Registration
of PERSISTENT PREFERENCE OF of an acting
births and deaths
A MALE CHILD.
change agent and
must be strictLy
a facilitator of
Shri Mohan Dharia, President,
Vanarai, who was the Chief, Guest
during the session on PoLiticaL
Constraints of Maharashtra, said that
poverty and popuLation issues cannot
be separated. PoLiticaL parties shouLd
include popuLation issues in their
eLection manifestos. Voters shouLd
prepare the citizens' charter and pLace
the same before the poLiticaL parties
for their impLementation and aLso
vote for parties who are voicing the
popuLation consensus in their
manifestos. NGOs shouLd aLso com"e
forward to appeaL directLy to the
poLiticaL parties to include popuLation
probLems in their eLection manifestos.
enforced. Birth certificates shouLd be deveLopment. Need based pLanning at
Dr K Srinivasan, whiLe chairing
provided and made compulsory as a the village LeveLshouLd be deveLoped the session on Demographic
proof of age for boys and girLs at using a system at the bLock, district, Constraints, highLighted the impact of
schooLs and for empLoyment. State and CentraL LeveLs keeping the son preference on retarding the
|
|
2.2 Page 12 |
▲back to top |
fertility reduction in Maharashtra and
the demographic problems that arise
because of the increasing factor in
proportion of age of the population.
The recommendations emerged
out of the two days Conference were
presented at the Valedictory session,
which were appreciated and accepted
by Dr S Salunke, Director General,
Health Services of Maharashtra, who
chaired the session. Later, these
recommendations were submitted to
the Honourable Chief Minister of
Maharashtra by Shri B G Deshmukh,
former Cabinet Secretary and Member,
Governing Board of PFI.
A day earlier! Press Conference
was held at Pune on 3rd evening, as
a curtain raiser for the Conference, in
which Dr Bharat Ram, Chairman, Prof
Ra njit Roy Chaudhu ry, Mem ber,
Governing Board and Dr K Srinivasan,
Executive Director addressed the
media on the purpose of organizing
the Conference at Pune. The same day
in the morning, Governing Board of
the Foundation also had its meeting
at Pune and members of the
Governing Board from all parts of the
country participated and contributed
in the Conference to enrich its
deliberations.
POPULATION FOUNDATION OF INDIA
8-28, Qutab Institutional Area, Tara Crescent,
New Delhi - 110016