Health

1Overview

Healthcare is one of the most pressing issues in the areas where MSS works. Many different factors including, lack of hygienic awareness, poor sanitation, bad drinking water quality, gender discrimination, superstitions, early marriage and pregnancy, frequent pregnancy, lack of a balanced diet, delay in treatment, infection and lack of cleanliness all stunt the average lifespan of the population and contribute to the area having one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rate. These problems are compounded by the geography, which makes the region inaccessible to government health services.

Strategy

In order to combat healthcare issues, MSS focuses on preventative measures by disseminating accurate dietary and healthcare information, in addition to providing vaccinations. MSS continues to conduct research in order to determine the causes of healthcare problems in the area and how to solve them.

Tactics

  • Increase community involvement by forming groups like Village Health Groups, Women Self Help Groups and Adolescent Groups.
  • Capacity building and awareness generation within the community
  • Networking with mainstream institutions.

Interventions

Reproductive and Child Health
Anganwadi Centers: MSS implements many of its programs in conjunction with government departments. Together we have supported the construction of 23 Anganwadi Centers in our project area. These centers serve to provide immunizations to mothers and their children. They also provide the facilities for a safe delivery conducted by a Dias or a Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA). The village level committees monitor these healthcare workers to make sure that they are conducting timely checkup visits with the women who delivered their children in the maternity centers to ensure no further complications. (more…)

HIV/AIDS

Migration Information Center:
Migration is seen as an independent risk factor for HIV in a wide range of settings. Migrants often face exploitation, harassment (including sexual), poverty, disempowerment, segregation, job insecurity, stress (mental and physical), and sexism. The center serves to educate migrants, both leaving and returning to their homes, about the risk of contracting HIV and how to protect themselves from the lethal virus. (more…)

Traditional Health

Cultivation of Medicinal Plants:
With the support of local communities, Mahan Seva Sansthan has developed herbal orchards, known as “Dharm Bagichi” in the project villages. These orchards contain rare and endangered species of medicinal plants. MSS promotes the use of herbal medicines to encourage the use of locally available medicines as well creating new livelihood options in the village. (more…)

Community Organization
Mahan Seva Sansthan supports community organizations to enable learning and awareness by sharing each other’s experience.
Adolescent Groups
MSS supported adolescents groups to enable learning through each other’s experience. Adolescents group’s members are regularly attending the meetings both in the presence and in absence of the VHC members. Gradually they are overcoming from their hesitations, coming out from home and discussing various aspects of life skill education including information on HIV/AIDS, importance of cleanliness and hygiene, nutrition, sexuality, social evils such as child labour, child marriage etc. (more…)

Public Distribution System

Experiment in Rural Advancement Programme : Unfortunately, corruption is prevalent throughout the government Public Distribution System (PDS).  MSS established X program to educate villagers about what goods and standards they are entitled to from the PDS and how to hold them to those standards.  Since the programs implementation, some village Panchayats have formed action committees which put pressure on the authorities to revoke the license of corrupt ration dealers. Their actions have sent a signal to other dealers in the area that they will be held accountable for their actions and, as a result, many dealers have changed their behavior. (more…)

Awareness Generation
Celebrations: MSS regularly celebrates World Health Day, World Breast Feeding Week, Nutrition week, World AIDS day and International Women’s Day in the villages to increase awareness and build essential knowledge about the rights of women and children. (more…)

Capacity Building

Training of Traditional Birth Attendant: Mahan Seva Sansthan provides training to Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) about appropriate safety measures for conducting safe deliveries, thus decreasing the number of complications and deaths as a result of child birth. (more…)

Results

MSS has received assistance with its efforts in providing better healthcare to the roughly 105 villages of Jhadol block from Accord, New Delhi, Integrated Child Development Services, Udaipur, Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) Jaipur, Wells for India, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), government health departments, and Children’s Rights and You.
Thanks to the dedicated work of the MSS team and the help from partnering agencies, many villagers are beginning to receive reliable healthcare and the habit of seeking preventative healthcare measures has begun to inculcate itself among the rural communities where we work.

  • 80% children were immunized successfully
  • All expecting mothers in the area were provided with vaccination
  • We achieved a level of 100% safe delivery in the working area.
  • Created awareness about birth registration and certification, and got 50% births registered in the working area.