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FROM THE FIELD

USAID support for Parivarthan Child Survival Project gets the final approval for implementation
12 Aug 2008 04:50:00 GMT
 Source: Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR) - India
Sheila George

Website: Website: http://eficor.org

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Child Survival Health Programme Team sharing data collected in Sahibganj
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Child Survival Health Programme Team sharing data collected in Sahibganj
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USAID approved the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) of Parivarthan Child Survival Project covering the Sahibganj District, Jharkhand at Washington DC on June 5th, 2008. At a meeting on June 5, 2008 at Washington DC five out of twenty-eight international NGOs were selected from all over the world to present the DIP for each of their projects under USAID's Child Survival and Health Grants Program. EFICOR's partner CRWRC represented by Ms Nancy TenBroek and Mr Sanjeev Bhanja, Director- Programmes, EFICOR who presented and defended the DIP were specially acknowledged by USAID.

USAID, India has selected Jharkhand as one of three focus states for expanding reproductive and child health, since they have "the greatest unmet needs for reproductive and child health services."

Sahibganj which is composed of nine blocks and 1,297 villages, was selected as the target district for the Child Survival Program due to the tremendous burden of disease and the lack of health services in the district. Sahibganj is one of the poorest and least developed districts. Over half of the population (55.3%) in this district lives below poverty line, and out of 569 districts in India, Sahibganj has been ranked at 562 affirming the backwardness of the district with 78.4% of the rural population living below poverty line .

Although Jharkhand is a focus state for USAID India, Sahibganj receives limited assistance due to the difficult access to remote villages. Sahibganj also has a large tribal population that is disproportionately overlooked by the existing health system.

The health status of Sahibganj District with respect to Jharkhand State is bleak. The estimated crude birth rate in Sahibganj is 35.5 (compared to 29.9 in Jharkhand). The literacy rate in Sahibganj is 37.9%; however, there are significant differences in literacy rates between men (48.3%) and women (26.8%). This low literacy rate among women not only has implications for the way health information should be communicated to women, but it also highlights other underlying causes of poor health, such as gender inequality which leads to women and adolescent girls having little or no decision making power regarding sexual and reproductive rights.

Child bearing imposes health needs and problems on tribal women - physically, psychologically and socially. In some tribal areas, maternal mortality is reported to be very high, 460 per 100,000 child births. The high mortality rate is mainly due to unhygienic practices.

Infant mortality is also extremely high among the tribal populations. In some of the tribal villages in Rajmahal hills (Sahibganj district) the IMR is as high as 147 per 1,000 live births . The high rate is mainly due to low birth weight, lack basic knowledge by mothers, poverty, remoteness of the villages and inaccessibility of health care facilities, infectious diseases such as malaria and Kala-azar. Vaccination and immunization of infants and children have been inadequate among tribal groups as well. In addition, extremes of superstitious religious beliefs and taboos tend to aggravate the problems. The existing public health infrastructure is grossly inadequate in relation to the population and geographic spread of the State.

The beneficiary population would consist of 927,770 , which includes 161,950 children under age five and 188,511 women age 15-49 . The project proposes to Reduce mortality among mothers, newborns and children under the age of five through building and sustaining community capacity.

The strategic objectives are :

Build organizational and community capacity for a sustainable impact on maternal and child health. Improve access to quality maternal and newborn care. Improve nutrition among children. Prevent and properly treat infectious diseases among women and children.

These objectives are also EFICOR's endeavor to align with the Millennium development Goals to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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