By Dr. Satish Ghanta | Project Leader
Warm greetings from Choice Foundation!
We would like to share with you how much of a difference your contribution has made in these children’s life.
We were successfully able to start the Health Screening Program in KGBV (Kasturiba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya) in Mahabubnagar district, Telagana India from 1st of November 2018. Mahabubnagar district has 25 mandals and every mandal has a KGBV school. It is a government residential school for girl children. The schools house on an average 180-200 girls. They have dedicated teachers who run the school and also take care of the hostel. These women teachers leave their families to take care of these girl children even in the nights, as they take turns to stay in the school with the children. We saw many teachers and school in-charges with babies of their own still making an effort to come and provide for these girls. One of the school in-charges has a month old baby, whom she carries to school every day and stays in the school from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening. Looking at this, the team felt even more motivated to help these children and teachers. Many of the teachers across schools came and personally spoke to the healthcare professionals to find out how they can help and improve these children’s condition. Most of the children were from a low economic status. Most of them are either orphans or have only one living parent and hence require staying at the school.
Team:
A team of 18-20 people have been travelling everyday between Hyderabad to KGBV Schools in Mahabubanagar with the equipment required from the 1st of November 2018. The team consists of Nurses, Pediatricians, Audiologists, Dentists, IT technicians and Data Entry Executives and Psychologists. Every child was screened for difficulties in vision and hearing. The children’s Anthropometric data and Vital Signs were also recorded. Dental check up was performed and good oral habits were taught to the kids. Blood pressure was taken as it has been proven that 14.5% children have childhood hypertension, which when left unattended can cause chronic illness and fatality at an early age. Every child, apart from these tests, undergoes a complete psychological screening. The children are screened for emotional, behavioral and psychological difficulties that they may be suffering in silence with. These are difficulties that the children are unable to express and have not been recognized by parents and teachers. Further assessments are done to confirm or rule-out the screening tests results. Further assessments are done to confirm or rule-out the screening tests results.
As on 21st November 2018, we had completed the screening process for 11 different schools in 15 working days. We found many children who were unaware that they were having difficulties and disorders.
Following are the results of the 11 schools
Total number of children screened- 1618, in that
6% were under nourished
7.5 % were overweight
3% were hypertensive
20% had visual difficulties
70-80% were have dental abnormalities
3.5 % had hearing difficulties
10% are anemic
6% were diagnosed with psychological conditions
We were able to provide these results to the government officials who are taking action to correct these difficulties in these children. We were able to able to achieve what we had hoped to achieve. To accurately diagnose conditions early and to provide an early intervention advisory, which when followed will lead to healthier future generation and reduce the impact the diseases and disorders will have on the quality of life of the children, family and the community on the whole.
A very big thank you from Choice Foundation family for enabling us to help these underprivileged girl children in the district of Mahabubnagar . We will get back to you with a final report once we complete screening all the other schools. Thank you once again for the love and support.
Dr. Satish Ghanta,
CEO, Choice Foundation.
If you would like to know more about the program, please write to us at choicefoundation.hyderabad@gmail.com (or) administrator@choicefoundation.in
You can call us at +91 9908162303
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