Life Saving Treatment to Children in Rural India

Dear Friends,

It gives me immense pleasure to write this letter to you. The immunization program of Seva Mandir was posted on Global Giving on November 2007 and since then it has received incredible support from all of you. A total of 3743 children and 3163 expecting mothers have been immunized in past three years with the support received from you and other friends. (Please see the enclosed report for more details).

Very big thanks to all of you for helping rural tribal children and their expecting mothers.

Seva Mandir’s model of immunization makes sure that expecting mothers and young infants/children can come to the immunization camp on a fixed date and time at a location in the village which is feasible to all. We hold 68 mobile camps every month at 68 locations. The children and mothers get enrolled for immunization and are provided with an immunization card. The village birth attendants (supported and trained by Seva Mandir) notify the mothers about the immunization camp a day prior and remind them to go for the shots. The birth attendant also spreads awareness about the significance of immunization, since she is from the village and helps women with deliveries; she has good connections with all the mothers.

The mothers receive one kilo of Pulse upon their child receiving each shot. The pulse is a good source of protein for the good health of children and for lactating mothers. In addition, it also provides the mother (attending the immunization camp) an incentive of having missed a significant part of her work-day. When a child completes the entire course of vaccination (which means receiving shots for Tuberculosis, Pertusis, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio and Measles) the mother is given with a dinner set (a plate, a spoon, a bowl and a cup). The mother is required to bring the immunization card every time the child/she receives a shot. The expecting mothers receive two shots for tetanus.

As we went along with these camps we realized that a lot of times mothers and children experience various illnesses and given that during the immunization camps, they could access basic health services, we added facilities of providing some treatment and referrals for childhood illnesses. Therefore the team of immunization received trainings and now they treat common, but often deadly, diseases including diarrhea, pneumonia, bronchitis, scabies, malnutrition, and ear and eye infections.

Our association with you, all these years, we have been able to raise a total of $ 51,611 for immunization program to date. A detailed report about how the model evolved and what impact it is making – is presented in the enclosed report. Please do have a look and let us know what you think.

Many thanks for your continuing support. Immunization is an ongoing program and we have integrated various significant aspects in our model to improve the overall impact. It would have not been possible for us to do if you were not with us. We hope to receive your regular support for this program and very much wish to have you with us someday here to show you the program you are supporting.

Thank you once again from all of us here. We look forward to working with you in the years to come. Please do write to us if you have any queries.

With warm regards,

Deepti

A brief story is give below -

Jaruli devi stays in the remote Kaucha village of Kotra block. Her village is very far from the district health center and the local health facilities have much higher than normal rates of worker absenteeism, making access to health care very challenging. Jaruli was in her third pregnancy. In her prior pregnancies, she never got TT immunization, as the government immunization services were not regular in the village. Both the two deliveries were institutional deliveries, but the babies did not survive. During her third pregnancy, she got her antenatal check ups and both the TT shots as Seva Mandir had started an immunization camp in her village. The GNM (General Nurse Midwife) counseled her on nutrition and care during pregnancy, and also encouraged her to take iron folic acid (IFA) tablets, as she was anemic. The GNM continued to check up on her health each month when she visited the village for camp. Jaruli had a safe delivery and, this time, her child survived.

(The report enclosed is compiled by Doddie from the US)

• Immunization Progress Report 2007-2010 (DOC)