The project provides free medical services to distinctly vulnerable population of 30,000, residing in a cluster of 14 sparsely connected and one of the most backward areas of Gujarat state in India through Mobile Medical Unit. Targeted maternal, reproductive, nutritional and menstrual hygiene care is offered to women, adolescent girls and children in the community.
The community faces geographical, infrastructural, socio-economic, and organisational access barriers to healthcare. Villagers travel 15-20 kms to reach the nearest health facility; often lacking presence of a qualified doctor, basic laboratory facilities and/or medicines. A single trip to such a hospital costs around Rs. 150-200/-, which is significantly high for people below the poverty line. High illiteracy rates and caste system dissuades health-seeking behaviour.
To fulfill existing demand for health services, the Mobile Medical Unit manned with qualified Doctor, Nurses and other team members visits each village on a fixed day of a week and provides free healthcare services to the residents. To promote and sustain health seeking, local empowered women with effective communication skills are trained and appointed as Health Workers in each village. They conduct awareness and training activities on maternal and child health, nutrition, hygiene & sanitation.
In its 2 years of working, the project has witnessed astounding growth in the patients availing and accepting the health services. Sustained awareness interventions for demand generation will improve the health status of the community. MMU will provide curative services, while the health workers will cater to preventive and health promotion aspect of public health. We expect to see reduction in rates of maternal and child deaths, malnutrition and improved hygiene practices in the community.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
