Bringing Healthcare to the Doorstep

Two year old Ayesha has been facing difficulty in breathing for the past few weeks. She also complains of stomach ache. 

Apart from prescribing medicines, the doctor has suggested her parents to keep their surroundings clean.

The family resides in New Mustafabad, Delhi. 

A huge sewer divides their colony into two parts. The drainage system is not up to the mark and there are pits full of stagnant water. 

Millions of children in our country are living amidst unhygienic surroundings . 

These children often become susceptible to illnesses like diarrhoea and pneumonia.

In fact, these illnesses cause majority of child deaths in our country.

To ensure that these marginalised and deprived children attain their basic right to survival, Save the Children is implementing “Bringing Healthcare to the Doorstep” project in 6 districts of Delhi, providing health services to mothers and children, in partnership with local NGOs and in close collaboration with the Government.

ABOUT THE PROJECT: 

Through this project, we are seeking to improve the health and nutritional status of people living in 10 selected slum clusters in each district, reaching out to a total of approximately 6,00,000 people.

Programme Objectives:

• To provide Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health & Nutrition (RMNCHN) care to the communities with special focus on women and children through mobile health units.

• To raise the level of community awareness on the issues of environmental sanitation, hygiene, and other health and nutrition related behaviours (special focus on reproductive and child health) amongst 6,00,000 people residing in the targeted clusters in the community.

• To help develop an effective system of referrals & linkages with public as well as private health facilities in and around the slum areas.

Project Activities: 

The services provided through the mobile health van and outreach services include:

• Comprehensive (preventive, promotive and curative) health care to the communities with special focus on women and children through mobile health vans.

• Specialized health camps conducted each month in the slums.

• Basic pathological investigations.

• Awareness generation on environmental sanitation, hygiene, and other health related behaviours in the community.

• Outreach activities for regular follow-ups, timely recognition, counselling, tracking of  pregnant mothers and children.

• Referral linkages with nearby health facilities.

• Water quality testing, setting up of child-friendly toilets, cleanliness drives, setting up mechanisms for proper waste disposal.

• BCC activities for community empowerment.

• Celebration of important events and days.

• Networking and liaison with government departments, local leaders, public represe-ntatives, other NGOs and community.

Major Achievements till April 2012

• We have reached out to more than 2,40,000 patients through our Mobile Health Units.

• Nearly 10,000 pregnant women have been enrolled for ANC checkups and more than 10,000 post natal checkups have been conducted. 

• More than 8,000 children have been completely immunized; Over 7,000 children were treated for diarrhoea; and nearly 6,000 children were treated for pneumonia.

• Over 1,50,000 one-to-one counseling sessions with the community have been conducted and more than 5,000 community meetings have been organized with the participation of nearly 60,000 people. 

• We have trained more than 200 community support groups on the issues of health, nutrition, water and sanitation. 

• 6 child friendly toilets have been constructed in Anganwadi Centres; More than 100 Safai Abhiyans were organized in the slums; Around 8000 dustbins have been distributed in the model cluster of the project area.