Last week a motorcycle rally of youth volunteers carrying vaccine carriers was flagged off by the Rajasthan Health Minister Dr Digambarsingh in Jaipur.
This was the launch of an immunization campaign on October 10 by the state Health Minister, who has decided to complement .that state government’s team of one lakh health workers with field volunteers of Nehru Yuva Kendra.
This social mobilization will increase the coverage of immunization and improve maternal and child health services in the state.
This initiative was the result of a new joint partnership between the Government of Rajasthan and UNICEF to improve maternal and child health services and strengthen routine immunization in the state.
This pilot project spans in eight districts of Tonk, Jhalawar, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Bharatpur and Bikaner, and in Jodhpur and slum areas of Jaipur city, which have low immunization coverage and sub-optimal outreach service delivery. This social mobilization would reach to the masses to create awareness about immunization and trigger the earlier sluggish trend.
Rajasthan, one of the larger states in India, has a population of 5.6 million living in 32 districts. National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2005 reports an infant mortality rate of 65/1000 live births, which is higher than the national average and much higher than that needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reducing infant mortality.
While immunization is one of the most effective strategies towards reducing infant mortality, the drive in the state has been abysmally low since last decade. According to National Family Health Survey 1993, only 21 % of the children were fully immunized, with a bare increase to 26 % in 2006 (NFHS 3).
Lot of work needs to be done to increase the availability and also the utilization of Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) services in the field. Only then can infant mortality rate be reduced to a large extent.
UNICEF and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, which has its youth clubs throughout the state, will now collaborate to improve the MCHN service delivery and utilization.
The plan encompasses making teams of NYK volunteers for sensitization, advocacy and awareness camps once a month using local IEC material, film shows on immunization, conducting VCDs/ Rath yatras, etc.
Teams of 20-25 volunteers shall be formed at the block level in each district. Two hundred villages selected from the districts having poor immunization coverage shall be covered in the project. A total of 2,000 villages will be covered through these teams.
The team shall move into the field for two days every week to engage in interpersonal communication with both the healthcare providers and community members regarding MCHN services. These teams would also provide additional monitoring and supervisory support in the field to ensure that sessions are being held regularly as planned.
Dr Satish Kumar, State Chief of UNICEF Rajasthan, while explaining the objectives of strengthening routine immunization and outreach services in the state, said the project will hopefully prevent dropouts and left outs through the child tracking system and health support system. He also congratulated UNICEF on bringing together this partnership.
Health Minister Digambarsingh also awarded excellence certificates to three well-performing districts on the basis of coverage and quality of outreach health services on the occasion. The assessment was carried out independently by a research agency.
By Kalyan Singh Kothari
16 October 2007
Source : http://southasia.oneworld.net
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