Life Saving Treatment to Children in Rural India

Dear Friend,

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Since 1968, Seva Mandir has worked with 360,000 people across 700 villages in south­ern Rajasthan, one of the world’s poorest regions, where people live on an average of USD 0.35 a day, to build cohesive and inclu­sive communities whose members are able to participate actively in the local decision-making which affects their daily lives.

Fostering democratic participation in the affairs of the community is the foundation for all of Seva Mandir’s interventions in the region and is a key element of its success in supporting deprived rural communities.

Seva Mandir has worked in partnership with these people, not only to improve their material well-being, but to build stronger and more ethical communities. Through its programs on governance, health, education, sustainable use of natural resources, women’s empowerment, youth development, child care and social enterprise, Seva Mandir makes a tangible and transformative impact. 

At Seva Mandir, very modest amounts of money go a very long way toward improving people’s lives, and our success has been recognized through a long list of awards and partnerships with distinguished funders and the Indian government.

We wish to thank you for your continued support.

Regards

Atul Lekhra

Please do follow us on https://www.facebook.com/sevamandir

Links:

• Seva Mandir's Website

Dear Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving Day to You.

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.

Kali, 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.

Kali had been motivated by a representative of Seva Mandir to attend the camp and received ante-natal check-ups as well as immunization. Kali 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.

Thanks to your generous support.

Regards,

Atul Lekhra

Please do follow us on https://www.facebook.com/sevamandir

Links:

• Seva Mandir's Website

Dear Friends,

Today I thought of sharing with you some data and information about our work area: 

• Infant mortality in Rajasthan is 57/1000 live births
• Over 70% of children and 60% of women are malnourished
• Only a third of all of children have been fully immunized
• Over 50% of households drink from unprotected sources
• Around 75% of rural households have no toilet
• Our health program supports some 9,000 women and children in 150 vil­lages
• Child immunization increased from 35% to 60%
• 16,000 people assured of access to clean water
• Over 3,000 people assured of access to toilets
• More than 300 Traditional Birth Attendants of Seva Mandir counsel women on the benefits of institutional deliveries but are also trained to perform home deliveries. They handle over 4,000 deliveries a year with infant mortality significantly lower than the state average.
• Seva Mandir offers obstetric care insurance in partnership with hospitals to provide women with access to checkups, curative medication and delivery services.
• Seva Mandir trains Bal­sakhis, women who provide monitoring and care for newborns by counseling mothers on breastfeeding, nutrition, birth registration and the availability of government support in cases of severe malnourishment.
• Seva Mandir provides immunization and monitors malnutrition in special camps and Balwadis (Pre Schools). Basic medicines and treatment are also provided for common childhood ailments.

Thank you so much for your continuous support to our program.

Regards

Atul Lekhra 

Links:

• Seva Mandir's website

“My child is only of one and a half months old. I have come to Seva Mandir’s immunization camp to get the first course.  We used to face a lot problem before these Seva Mandir immunization camps. We had to walk a lot to go to immunization camps and it was very tough for the pregnant ladies. Now, Seva Mandir health workers come to our village and they have also arranged emergency vehicle for us. Now all the information about government health schemes comes to us through Seva Mandir,” says Geeta from Girwa block.

On the 4^th of every month, Seva Mandir holds an immunization camp in a small village in Girwa Block.  The camp is very well attended by pregnant women and mothers with young children.  They know they can count on the regular attendance of Seva Mandir-trained medical staff who administers inoculations and antenatal care competently and hygienically.  Every year, Seva Mandir holds immunization camps in over 100 villages in a program that poverty researchers and M.I.T. Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have called “the most impressive we have ever evaluated, and probably the one that has saved most lives.” (http://www.sevamandir.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Poor-Economics.pdf)

Seva Mandir provides training, medical equipment, stipends and supervision to over 323 Traditional Birth Attendants and 99 Balsakhis (Friends of Children)from our partner 152 villages in 2013. Together they reached out to 7,003 pregnant women.

Seva Mandir recently organized a training workshop of 4 days at Kaya Training Centre from 4^th to 7^th May, 2014. More than 50 TBAs attended this training. TBAs were given training on how to perform safe home delivery, about care and precautions during pregnancy.

Here is the full video of training https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9oRjYBJR1I

Thank you so much for your support.

Regards

Atul Lekhra 

Links:

• Seva Mandir's official website

Thank you for supporting Seva Mandir's immunization camps The generous donations by you will help provide healthcare to many tribal women and children.

Here's a quick update on our immunization programme.

Last year,  immunization camps were conducted in 113 hamlets across the five blocks, focusing on areas where government maternal and child health centers were not operational. This year, 1308 camps were conducted and a total of 1324 children were registered in the camps, against 1267 children registered in the previous year. Apart from the routine vaccinations, 2429 children were given treatment for diseases such as fever, cough, cold, measles, eye or ear infection, diarrhea and skin infection. This year, the camps  registered 1783 women for antenatal checkups against 1553 women last year. Of these 1783 women,1645 received one dose of tetanus toxoid vaccine. Antenatal checkups included hemoglobin test, urine test, blood pressure measure and counseling on care during pregnancy.

Attached is a photo essay on the immunization camp held in Girwa this year by John and Felicia Pheasant from UK, consultants of Seva Mandir who had visited this immunization camp. We do hope you enjoy the Photo essay.

• Photo essay on the immunization camp (PDF)