Dear Friend,
Shobha lives in one of the remote villages of Kotra block. She has given birth twice but sadly both of the babies did not survive. During these pregnancies, she did not receive any maternal health care assistance, such as antenatal care or TT vaccinations, as government health services and facilities in the area were out of reach. Shobha became pregnant again, but this time she attended the immunization camps in her village; an initiative launched by Seva Mandir in 2009 in order to raise awareness and improve vaccination services for free. These camps not only provided Shobha with all the necessary vaccinations during her pregnancy, but she was also counseled on nutrition and advised to take iron tablets to combat her anemia.
Furthermore, one of Seva Mandir’s Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs - women from the village who have been trained by Seva Mandir to serve pregnant woman) assisted Shobha throughout her pregnancy, checking on her every month when she visited the village for immunization camps. Thanks to the primary assistance provided by Seva Mandir, Shobha was able to have a safe delivery, giving birth to a happy and healthy child. Shobha says she is happy that she has a healthy child and that she is deeply grateful to Seva Mandir’s TBA for all the help and support she was given during her pregnancy.
Seva Mandir will continue to conduct free health checkups and immunization camps in remote villages of its working area in order to help many such women like Shobha. We are immensely proud of the improvements we have been able to make in the lives of these women and children and hope to reach to many more. Your support to Seva Mandir is essential, since only people like you can turn Seva Mandir's efforts and commitment into reality.
We are proud to share that Seva Mandir has been featured in a The New York Times article! One of our GlobalGiving campaigns has been selected as an alternative way to give a gift this Christmas. The link to the article is https://goo.gl/sCxFGC
Also, GlobalGiving's “Year End Campaign” has begun! Until the end of December, all recurring donations up to $200 will be 100% matched throughout the campaign, and whichever organisation achieves the most funds during the campaign will receive $2,000 from GlobalGiving!
Help Seva Mandir achieve these goals this December by donating on our GlobalGiving page!
Thank you so much.
Regards
Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team
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Dear Friend,
An immunization camp in Sagwada village was initiated by Seva Mandir because of the lack of basic healthcare facilities there.
The nearest general health center is 7km away and the nearest center where immunization is undertaken is 4km away. Many of the women and children of Sagwada are simply unable to undertake these journeys and therefore often missed out on routine immunization.
Pooja (name changed), a resident of Sagwada who has attended the Seva Mandir camp, shared her experiences with us. She said that without the camp she would not have been able to get immunization for herself during pregnancy or for her young son. She lives at the farthest end of the village and it would have been too great an ordeal for her to walk, either when pregnant or with her baby after his birth, to the nearest center.
Pooja had been motivated by a representative of Seva Mandir to attend the camp and received ante-natal check-ups as well as immunization. Pooja knows that the camp is a boon for her village as it helps protect the lives both of the pregnant women and of their young children.
Thank you for helping us to provide vaccines to these young children and pregnant women from deprived communities. It is because of your support, we are able to organize monthly immunization camps in villages of southern Rajasthan.
Regards,
Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team
Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Dear Friend,
Thank you for helping us to provide vaccines to the children from deprived communities. It is because of your support, we are able to organize monthly immunization camps in villages of southern Rajasthan.
Due to unavailability of basic health facilities, vast numbers of children in this area either receive no immunization or fail to complete the full course of inoculations to protect them from deadly diseases.
Last year, a total of 1709 shots were administered to 1482 children. Out of this number, 369 children completed the full immunization course. Along with vaccinations for children, the camps also provide antenatal care to pregnant women which include two doses of Tetanus Toxoid injection along with the regular checkups to monitor their basic health. The total number of shots administered to pregnant women in the reporting period is 1003 from which 440 completed their immunization.
We couldn’t do this without your help.
Nidhi, who has two children, one 4 months old and one 2 years old, explains that she brought both her children to the immunization camp to receive their full rounds of vaccinations. She says she has been able to do this because Seva Mandir’s immunization camp always run on the same day of every month, making it easy for her to remember the day she is supposed to attend and ensure she makes it. Unlike government clinics, which are open for immunizations on irregular days and are often unattended when they are meant to be open, she explains that as she knows Seva Mandir’s camp is reliable, she will make the journey and ensure her child is vaccinated.
We need your help to continue offering these life-saving vaccinations to small children in these villages.
Thank you for the confidence that you have placed in us.
Regards
Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Seva Mandir’s monthly Immunization Camp in Undithal village is held in a community hall which sits in the middle of fields lying below the Aravali hills. The camp is run by a nurse, Urmila, who provides antenatal care and advice for pregnant women, and immunization for both mothers and children. She also monitors babies’ growth and looks for cases of undernutrition, and will examine any children who are brought in with minor ailments.
One of the major clinical problems Urmila sees amongst pregnant women is anaemia, with haemoglobin levels well below the healthy level of 11. This is caused by insufficient iron in their diets, which also generally lack calcium. The deficiency can usually be remedied with iron supplement tablets, but in severe cases – of which there are many – or if a woman’s blood sugar is too high, they have to be referred to hospital.
Many women do not take the advice seriously as they see no outward signs of the condition. In extreme cases, their iron levels are so low they need intravenous iron. When women are reluctant to take their supplements or go to the clinic at a nearby hospital, Urmila has a tactic she uses to convince them. She says, ‘Go to get treatment now, or else when you deliver your baby you may need blood from two or three people. Is that what you want? If not, go to hospital now!’
Urmila, an auxiliary nurse midwife, has worked with Seva Mandir for over two years. She runs ten immunization camps a month in different villages. In between camps, she has to enter all the data she has collected, sharing it with the government health department and with Seva Mandir’s head office.
In addition to health records, details such as ID and bank account information are required, as there are various government schemes that give women money after the birth of their children. The information is also needed so that pregnant women can be registered with the hospital where they are to give birth so that they can be admitted without delay when the time comes. Urmila says that collecting this data used to be quite a problem, but now women know that they need to bring the relevant information with them to the camps and it has become easier.
To ensure that all of our camps run efficiently, each nurse running an immunization camp must take a photograph of herself in front of the noticeboard for that clinic before and after the camp, proof that she has attended and completed the hours required.
Urmila says, ‘I enjoy my job. It brings me great satisfaction to know I am helping keep women and babies healthy. It’s important that I can go to my patients as they find it so difficult to get to healthcare centres outside their villages.’
We are immensely proud of the improvements which have been made in southern Rajasthan, and with great support from well-wishers like you we hope to reach even more people in need.
Thank you so much for your continued trust in us.
Regards
Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Let me start out by wishing you and your loved ones the season’s greetings.
Mall is one of the deprived villages of Southern Rajasthan where Seva Mandir works. Access to quality health services is limited here because of the difficult terrain.
Ranjana & Azmal are a couple who live in Mall. However, unlike most of their fellow villagers, they are both able to read and write. Azmal is a farmer but also gives tuition to the children in his village in his spare time, while Ranjana looks after the family.
When they had their first child, they decided to get her fully vaccinated. Azmal says : “Seva Mandir has been organizing immunization camps in my village for more than ten years. Hence, we are aware of the importance of vaccines. I have decided not to miss any vaccine needed for my child.”
Azmal and Ranjana have ensured that their baby girl receives timely vaccine shots and so have saved her from many deadly diseases such as polio, diphtheria, typhoid, measles and hepatitis.
We hope that someday, each and every person where we work will be as aware of the importance of immunization as Azmal.
It is because of the support of well-wishers like you that we have been able to organize monthly immunization camps for children and pregnant women in the backward villages of Rajasthan. Each month, around 135 children and 110 pregnant women receive vaccine shots through these camps.
Let no child suffer due to the deadly diseases that could have easily been prevented through inexpensive vaccines! We hope for your continued support in this mission.
I also wanted to tell you that we have been selected by the GlobalGiving Foundation to participate in its YEAR END CAMPAIGN!– a fundraising opportunity for nonprofits around the world.
In order to succeed, we must raise $3,000 from 30 donors by end of this month.
If we meet this threshold, we will be featured on GlobalGiving’s website and could earn bonus prizes from GlobalGiving for raising the most money.
Please help us reach the goal by making a donation.
We would love to hear from you. Please do reach out to us at atul.lekhra@sevamandir.org
Thank you, as always, for your continued support.
With warm wishes,
Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir
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