Health Program 2011-12

Skill Training for ASHAs:

Total of three skill training have been organized for ASHAs in last one year. A total of 46 ASHAs were trained on Community Health and Psycho-Social Intervention. They were being imparted the basic skill of dealing with people with mental illness. In training, Dr. Sunil Kaul, a public health expert had imparted the training on Primary Health Care. The ASHAs were trained to use the basic kits like BP Machine, Thermometer, Weighing Machine, Rapid Diagnostic Kits, Pregnancy Test Kits, and Basic Medicines and so on. Besides, the ASHAs were given regular orientation on Gender and Health, Entitlement and Health and Community Participation and Determinants of Health etc.

Strengthening Village Health & Sanitation Committee (VHSC):

VHSC Workshop: Total of 3 workshops has been organized for VHSC Members of 58 VHSCs. The workshops were based on functional responsibility Of Village Health and Sanitation Committee, National Rural Health Mission, Right to Education Act, role of VHSC members and Public Distribution System. The workshops were emphasized on food and educational entitlement for improving the health status of the people.

Facilitating VHSC Meetings: The health team has facilitated 88 VHSC meetings in last one year in 58 villages. In these meetings different health issues were discussed including monitoring of health institutions and personnel in their respective jurisdiction area.

Public Dialogues: Total of two Public Dialogues have been held in last one year. In both the public dialogue there was huge participation of people. The Department of Health Services also had attended with good numbers of health personnel including the

district heads of different health programs. The report card was presented by two young people from the community. Based on the presentation the Joint Director Health Services took the opportunity to seek apologies for not being able to improve on some of the aspects such as disease surveillance, Janani Surakhsa Yojna and so on. He has publicly directed the personnel from Block level to village level to devote themselves for improving their performance in these aspects. On the whole, the Public Dialogue was very successful in creating a democratic space for discussions and debate on issues of health between the people and the government department.

District Consultation on Health: A successful district consultation was held where discussion on various critical issues regarding health took place. The event was attended by Director Education, District Elementary Education Officer, Asst. Engineer, PHE, Joint Director and all the district level officials of health department. The social organizations like All Bodo Students Union, All Bodo Women Welfare Federation and many NGOs in the district have attended the program. The media personnel also actively took part and highlighted the issues. In the consultation, issues relating to mental health, absence of convergence among different departments, uncovered areas, un-official charges etc were discussed seriously. The participants have questioned the slow progress of health and other departments in improving the scenario and urged them to be more active in resolving all these issues. The departments also have accepted the inability to improve on the mentioned aspects and have promised

to improve in future. With the continuous advocacy, NERSWN has succeeded in taking the health department to survey the newly settled villages in Jhawarbil area. After the survey, the children of the area have received first immunization officially. Un-officially the NERSWN workers have taken one of the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) once to immunize the children and to do medical check-up of the mothers in the area. One Health Camp has been held which was attended by 260 people. Recently one ASHA has been appointed for Jhawarbilarea. The Sapkata area has a permanent health sub-centre for itself. Besides, the Mobile Medical Unit under NRHM holds once a month checkup camp for the residents regularly. These services have been arranged after the

intervention of NERSWN in the area.

Mental Health Initiatives

Organizing Monthly Mental Health Camp: All total 11 Mental Health Camps have been organized in last one year. Total of 965 people with mental illness have attended these camps. Among these 331 are new cases. Regular Home Visit was made to follow up the progress in recovery of the people with psychiatric illness preventing them from relapses. Total of 75 families have been visited in last one year. In these visits, family counseling was also done. The caregivers are motivated to maintain regularity in visiting the monthly mental health camp organized by NERSWN in RNB civil hospital, Kokrajhar. They were also being explained the importance of the family in the faster recovery of the psychiatric patients. These visits have helped gaining the practical insights on family conditions, magnitude of problems, and rate of recovery and so on which in turn helps in devising effective plan for better mental health program.

Advocating for Integration of Mental Health Care: As a result of the continuous advocacy, the Government of Assam has transferred back the Dr. R.C Debnath to RNB Civil Hospital, Kokrajhar. Dr. Debnath now regularly attends the monthly mental health camp providing clinical services to the psychiatric patients. Besides, four general practitioners have been given basic training for ten days in the Psychiatric Department of Guwahati Medical College after the regular advocacy of NERSWN and other partner Organization. The NERSWN intends to intensify advocacy for permanent psychiatric services at least at the district civil hospital and gradually advocate for inclusion of services in the primary healthcare centers too. Pamphlets on issues of mental health were being published to create awareness on Mental Health issue in Bodo Language.

Measles Catch-Up Campaign: The NERSWN in Collaboration with NRHM has carried out Measles Catch up campaign in the in-accessible areas of Kokrajhar district from 13th of November to 29th November 2011.

Folk Media and Film Screening: A campaign was launched with the help of a folk media team in the entire district for promoting breast feeding, prevention of early age marriage, control of malaria, diarrhea, prevention and control of Japanese Encephalitis. The campaign was carried out in collaboration with NRHM, Kokrajhar.

TSC Workshop: A workshop cum awareness meeting was organized on Total Sanitation Campaign for the VHSC members and ASHAs. In the workshop Executive Engineer of Public Health Engineering Department had attended as a resource person. The Executive Director, NERSWN also attended the program as one of key speaker. Total of 30 VHSCs have attended the program.

Organizing Pulse Polio Program: In three inaccessible villages of Tipkai, Pulse Polio was organized by NERSWN workers with the help of ANMs of Tipkai Dispensary to immunize the left out children. In three villages more than 150 children were immunized.