SELF-CARE SUPPORT for 200 NEEDY WOMEN FOR 1 YEAR

Dear friends,

Warm greetings!

Even after decades of independence, people in many pockets of India are still struggling to get basic health services. With your ongoing support and motivation, we are able to reach out to more than 35 impoverished communities in the region. In our regular interaction with women folks in those communities we realized that they need a lot of moral support to address their health issues.

Experts say that self-care is an integral part of primary health care. But many women tend to overlook it under the pressure of family, work, finance, stress and gender inequalities. They think that they need care only when they fall extremely sick forgetting the fact that prevention is always better than cure. We try to identify the root causes of their health problems by conducting regular health camps and screening them for various diseases. Health camp or Medical camp literally means that a team of health professionals ‘camp’ in a particular locality and carry out regular check-up and specific screening as per the requirement.

Women’s Health Camp

During monthly meetings with the parents of children who come to our study centres, it was observed that a few mothers were absent for meeting. On enquiry, it was found out that they had some health issues. When our social workers had a dialogue with those mothers, it was learned that most of them were suffering from lower back pain, stomach pain and weakness.

Therefore, health camps were organized exclusively for women in collaboration with another NGO working on health. Camps were held in two locations: Lamanvasti in Uttamnagar and Malwadi in Hadapsar. Both slum communities are in Pune city. The camps were open to all women from the community. After the routine check-up, women were screened for blood pressure and diabetes. Total 249 women were screened including both locations. 80% of women who attended the camps were domestic workers. They have no time and money to pay attention to their own health.

Out of 249 women, 115 women required further treatment for blood pressure, sugar and minor issues. The doctors referred them for further treatment, if required and also told them what home remedies they can follow. During the examination, the doctors provided medicines for minor illnesses like cough and cold for 3 days and explained importance of taking medicines on time.

We do not merely look at it as an activity. We intend to keep follow up of the cases screened for major illnesses through our social workers. We also realized the need to have facility for gynaecologic, ophthalmologic and dental screening of those women. We also found out anaemia being one of the root causes of many diseases. Anaemia is basically deficiency of haemoglobin in blood. In India, it is a major public health problem because half of the female population is estimated to be anaemic at least once in their lifetime. The situation is grim among women from low income groups. Anaemia causes fatigue, weight loss and other severe issues increasing the risk for young women, pregnant women, adolescent girls and future mothers of the new generation.

We have been creating awareness about nutritional diet enriched with iron and folic acid for our rural communities. We have also been able to provide nutrition in tribal communities that we work with. Now we see the need to expand the same program in urban communities as well. Children will be healthy when their parents pay attention to self-care and address their health concerns. We could reach out to maximum women in these two communities that we work with, with your kind support. We can organize a health camp in collaboration with hospitals using more facilities like mobile van and roping in experts in medical profession if we could raise sustainable fund for this project. Thank you for being with us.

Sending healthy vibes your way.

Links:

• IDEA Foundation Pune

Dear Donors,

Warm Greetings !

As you know, IDEA foundation is working with underprivileged communities in Pune since 2002 through educational support programs. Self- care support for underprivileged women was an important project by IDEA to keep the families in good health. Our interventions though awareness programs and regular health check-up camps for women in these communities helped women beneficiaries conscious about self- health as well as the health of their family members. Due to COVID pandemic we conduct online awareness programs to inform people about the current pandemic situation and the precautions to be taken.

COVID 19 attack is at it's peak in India. Second wave is raging across the country. With a high population density, cities in India are struggling to control the spread. Pune, is the worst affected city with a huge uneducated migrant population who are daily wagers and laborers who can't afford to stay indoors. Frequent lock downs and restrictions are causing a real threat to their survival, but Government is forced to take such decisions to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and decrease morbidity and mortality.

Nevertheless, many NGOs are trying to support the Government by providing essential services, food supply and hygiene kits to communities in bad state. We are continuing our actions to ward off the effect of this crisis in underprivileged communities.  Please read about  our COVID 19 relief project on GlobalGiving.  

 Some of the activities conducted by IDEA during pandemic.

1. We continue education through online platforms as children. Motivational sessions are also conducted online for children and youth 
2. We continue with skill development sessions online and encourage women to start earning through the skills they have learned.
3. IDEA Organizes online public awareness sessions on COVID 19 for underprivileged communities.   
4. We are providing hygiene kits to under privileged families
5. IDEA provides financial support to buy groceries and medicines to poor families, as an immediate relief to survive the pandemic.  
6. We conduct sessions on mental health to underprivileged women to manage  their stress ,staying healthy and taking nutritional food.

 We need your support to raise funds for our COVID 19 relief project too. Together we can survive this pandemic. Please continue to support us as we support those who are in real crisis now.

Thank you!