China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE)

1. China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) 19 MARCH 2009 PUBLIC HEALTH AWARENESS Presented By: ALL INDIA WOMEN’S EDUCATION FUND ASSOCIATION (AIWEFA) Mrs. Asha Chandra Mrs.Sarla Manchanda Vice President Joint Secretary

2. Public Health “The health of a nation is an essential component of development, vital to the nation’s economic growth and internal stability. Assuring a minimal level of health care to the population is a critical constituent of the development process.” - 11th Five year plan (2007-2012) of India

3. India’s Health Vision India’s Vision for Health encompasses • access to food • clean drinking water • sanitation • public health • knowledge of hygiene and feeding practices • individual health care

4. Prevention is Better than Cure There is increased realisation that Prevention is better than Cure through • Concentration on awareness generation • Provision of necessary infrastructure • Epidemiological studies • Region and community based focussed action

5. The Challenge The magnitude of the Problems pose a great challenge in reaching the large population scattered in over a million habitations, spread over several hostile areas. 23% of households in the country do not have access to safe drinking water, including 27.5% in rural areas. This keeps infant mortality high in the country apart from other reasons. Inadequate health infrastructure with low public expenditure (as percentage of GDP) is a major concern

6. Rural Health • Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is the World’s largest child intervention programme providing a holistic package of six basic services for children under six and for pregnant and nursing mothers. • Health check up • Immunization • Referral services • Supplementary feeding • Preschool education • Health and nutrition education through one platform • Programme for adolescent girls recently added More than 1 million Anganwadi Centres deliver these services. Each centre has an Anganwadi worker (trained) and a helper. Some have more.

7. Government – NGO partnership • The existing health services are being augmented by a cadre of fully trained Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) who are being trained to create awareness in areas like nutrition, sanitation and hygiene

8. The Indian Paradox • The over burdened public health-care system is inadequate to take care of the teeming millions due to inadequate numbers of doctors and nurses. Yet India is an attractive destination for medical tourism • Private commercial health care service is increasingly becoming popular as an investment proposition Yet it is getting out of reach for many families in the lower economic strata in India • Challenge before India is to make such top quality care accessible for the majority of its people • Notable agencies, individual doctors and groups are taking special efforts to provide care for the deprived • Health Insurance is a new effort which has yet to penetrate the whole rural and urban communities and give them access to quality health services.

9. Integrated Health Care Since Independence, India has built up a vast health infrastructure and health personnel at primary, secondary, and tertiary care in public, voluntary, and private sectors. For producing skilled human resources, a number of medical and paramedical institutions including Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) institutions have been set up

10. New developments in Health • Telemedicine: delivery of medicine at a distance through use of communications and information technology for delivery of clinical care to the patients Apollo Hospitals have been the pioneer in the field of telemedicine in India. They were the fist to set up the Rural telemedicine Centre in the village of Aragonda in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It has now evolved as the single- most largest solution provider for telemedicine in India • The maiden Indian effort in creating ‘Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) database would now be available to the Patent Examiners at European Patent Office (EPO having 34 member states) for establishing prior art, in case of patent applications based on Indian systems of medicine

11. Corporate Social Responsibility • CSR is a form of corporateself-regulation integrated into a business model • In creating a mechanism for giving opportunity to young people who did not have formal education, NIIT, an information technology companycreated a hole in the wall that separated the NIIT headquarters in Kalkaji from a slum and put up a freely-accessible computer for anybody to use • While writing his novel Q&A, the source of the acclaimed film ‘Slumdog Millionaire”, its author, Vikas Swarup, was inspired by the pedagogy experiment. “ It got me fascinated, and I realised there was an innate ability in everyone to do something extraordinary, provided they were given an opportunity”

12. Government/Public Sector Corporates NGO’s Public Private Partnership Corporate Social Responsibility State & NGO Partnership STAKEHOLDERS IN THE SOCIAL SECTOR

13. AIWEFA Awareness Generation • Self Help Groups set up to bring together people with similar concerns • Community participation through pooling of funds to take small loans, open bank accounts and express local needs • Education: Basic literacy, computer education, Non-formal education, private coaching Mathematics & English Computer training and accessing the internet • Entrepreneurial Training: Capacity enhancement and career guidance workshops, exposure visits • Income Generation: Organising sale of handicraft and tailoring items, pickles, squashes and snacks, kitchen garden vegetables • Legal Awareness Programmes • Workshops on Domestic Violence Act Awareness

14. AIWEFA in Health Awareness • Health/Eye Camps • Nutrition Camps & Hygiene workshops • Vector control through spraying • Training of Traditional Birth Attendants • Supported construction of toilets in adopted villages

15. AIWEFA in Nutrition Awareness • Feedback in adopted villages revealed that most women suffered from constipation • This was due to lack of fiber in vegetables and fruits in their diet • Nutritive Recipes suited to local taste • Introduced nursery plantations and fruit trees

16. AIWEFA-Scientific Awareness Reaching the gains of science and technology through • Improved agricultural tools • High quality seed bank for agriculture, horticulture, vegetables and fodder cultivation • Scientific sowing practices for increased flowering • Drip Irrigation • Net Houses

17. AIWEFA - Energy Resource Management • Cow dung cakes are used as fuel; Smoke pollution is a health hazard and causes respiratory diseases • Bio gas using cowdung and bio mass can provide cleaner fuel and the left over slurry can be used as manure. • Composting and vermi pits convert, animal and vegetable waste into organic manure. • Fuel expenses are saved, efficient and clean fuel provided and smoke hazard eliminated • Nitrgogen-rich organic manure thus procured enriches soil

18. AIWEFA in urban slums • Coverage of health and family welfare services in urban areas is much better than the rural areas. • Lack of water and sanitation and the high population density in slums leads to rapid spread of infections • Poor housing conditions, exposure to heat and cold, make these settlements prone to high incidence of vector-borne and other diseases, like asthma, tuberculosis, malaria. • In partnership with Delhi Government, AIWEFA has set up a Gender Resource Centre in a Delhi slum and is working with the community on “Mission Convergence” -- a single-window awareness/information centre

19. Activism Towards ensuring the right social and physical environment for the wellbeing and empowerment of women in all social development issues AIWEFA is : • Lobbying for programmes in good governance, policies, legislation and their implementation, personal laws towards eliminating discrimination against women Some interventions in: Gender budget analysis, Child Marriage Bill, Domestic Violence Bill, PNDT Act) • Training elected representatives of the Local bodies (nearly 1.2 million women members have come into these positions now) • Participating in the implementation of UN Millennium Development Goals

20. Networking • UN NGO IRENE • Regional Coordinators • Series of workshops on Domestic Violence in slums, colleges, rural areas • Solution Exchange • Network community of NGOs to share problems and solutions • Girl Child • Task Force members. January 25 declared day of girl child by India • Monthly programmes to commemorate the year 2009 • Women • Beijing+ Platform for Action—ongoing dialogue with CSW, on CEDAW • Child Rights - India Alliance of Child Rights: Charter Founder Members • Review of progress since UNGASS 2002

21. AIWEFA Vision - Agents of Change Change Agents for coping with change in a globalized world Objective: To build a team of resource persons who can tackle social issues by offering advice, training and reaching people anywhere in India • Aim is to build a constant dialogue on social issues arising in the community and resolving them using the dynamics of the community • Issues include social problems needing an attitudinal change such as- • Girl Child • Education • Skill Development • Employment • Marriage • Building/Sharing community assets and responsibilities Initiative: Organize an international conference among all SAARC nations and China to share their best practices and become beacons of the change we wish to see

22. Thank You Thank You