Reporting Period: Apr 01, 2018 till Mar 31, 2019
Beneficiaries: 12000 villagers in 9 clusters of 7 villages, 2300 children in 14 villages
Recognition that good health can only be attained through helping the poor improves the entire situation in which they live. Successful programs link health activities with other aspects of social development – David Werner
It is very satisfying to witness that our health team is evolving in a direction David Werner, a pioneer in community health work, proposed. A meaningful engagement with the community is possible and being sustained through our health team.
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES
Highlights
- School health education work expanded from 12 schools in 8 villages to 24 schools in 14 villages
- Change in dietary habits of more no of families and children
- Monitoring supplementary nutrition program in 5 schools for 270 children
- Engagement with the communities through street theater and other folk arts media
Clinical services
In our health center at Payir, this year we have
OP consultations: 1200 individuals
Referrals : 262 individuals for higher centers or to consult a specialist.
These numbers have increased from the previous year and the number of people who opt for traditional medicines also increased. We have a new Homoeopath, Dr. Bagyavasan visiting the center for consultations once a month. A physiotherapist couple too, Dr. Mathuvanesh and Dr. Sudha are going to visit our center once a month for treating and training.
Regarding reestablishing medical lab here, we appointed 2 DMLT graduates and they did not continue unfortunately. This remains a dream unmet. Balraj, our team member is slowly getting trained to do lab tests and we hope he can be our lab technician for the coming year.
We are planning to widen our services by adding a resident Naturopath and another visiting AYUSH doctor in the coming year.
Health education program
One of the major transformations in community’s health is achieved by the health education program provided by the health animators (HAs) from Payir. They bridge the information and knowledge gap between higher centers and the community at various levels. The focus this year has been in bringing change in dietary practices at family levels and among children. Our team has seen steady shift from junk food consumption among children towards healthy snacking and eating more vegetables and fruits. Many families also have started including small millets in their cooking.
- School health education classes: 419 sessions in 24 Govt schools from 14 villages for 2301 students from 1st Std to 9th Std.
- Village street meetings: 763 sessions in 7 villages across the year having 4578 participants, ie 262 sessions more than the previous year
- Nutrition education and awareness about junk food in 5 schools where supplementary nutrition is provided
- Basic anatomy physiology, reproductive health, safe and unsafe touch, gender sensitization sessions for 47 girl children in KGBV residential school
Supplementary nutrition program
Our Payir’s supplementary nutrition program, given to children under 5 years, expanded from 3 villages in previous year to 6 villages. Out of 294 children in this age group, 64 children are malnourished and being provided with the supplement. The percentage of children falling under malnourished category has been falling consistently in the villages we work with for more than 3 years continuously.
Our senior HAs also anchored the supplementary nutrition program run in Govt schools. They played a key role in getting permission from CEO, Perambalur and conducted the initial BMI survey for students from 9 schools. Based on their survey, the final list of providing supplements to 277 children from 5 schools was arrived. They monitored the distribution of the supplements to these children every day and made sure that they consumed the supplement fully. They also conducted mid-year and year end BMI survey for these 277 children for analysis, along with nutrition education.
Street Theater Programs
The health team decided to bring back the lost Natural Factors affecting the environment, in and around our villages through cultural medium. They also performed in street theaters, talking about issues of reforestation, water scarcity, reviving water bodies and so on. These topics are linked to the food sources of the people. Further, the entire Payir team was geared towards working with the district administration in reviving Upparu river basin that lies in our villages.
- 14 theater events conducted in 8 villages and in a college.
- Thenur, Nathakkadu, Thottiyapatti, Klathur, Kannapadi, Puthuammapalayam, Echampatti, Varatharajapuram, Nehru Memorial Arts College, Puthanampatti
- An abandoned and unused well – de-silted and brought back to use for drinking water in Puthuammapalayam village.
- One pond – deepened
- 2 more wells – under process of the district administration’s repair works.
- Distributed 172 tree saplings in 7 villages, 100 to a school and growing 60 in Payir campus
Other events
- Participated in Gramsaba meetings to represent their villages to address problems and needs.
- Mobilized farmers to discuss and try natural farming.
- Supported conducting Thiramai Thiruvizha – competitions for Govt school children
- Conducted anemia survey for 89 women and renal disease survey for 22 individuals, along with IIM Trichy students
- Supported employable skill training for differently abled individuals in association with IIM Trichy students.
Trainings attended
- HA Shanthi attended 10 days residential training on women empowerment conducted by EKTA Madurai
- HAs Vanitha and Vasuki attended 5 days training on creative expressions and drama conducted by Sr. Clare and Manimaran.