Three young women from India have been named among the 10 Maternal Health Young Champions selected by the Institute of International Education (IIE) from across four countries. Ruchi Chopda brings you the details.
Notwithstanding last year’s report by the UN which stated that India is likely to miss its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, three women from the country have taken it upon them to do their bit in the field of maternal health.
Priya John, Vasudha Chakravarthy and Neha Rathi have been named among IIE’s 10 young champions as part of the Maternal Health Young Champions Programme (MHYCP) and each of them will work on individual research projects to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in the country.
Informs Namrata Jha, programme director and director of IIE, India, “Launched in 2009, the programme aims to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity by cultivating a cadre of emerging public health leaders equipped with the skills, vision and long-term commitment to improve maternal health worldwide.”
As champions, the trio will partake in leadership training and a nine-month internship to gain firsthand experience in addressing maternal health issues through research, evaluation and field work.
The research interests of the champions from India range from examining cases of maternal death and near-misses , legally representing maternal and reproductive health violations as a human rights issue, and evaluating the government’s Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) scheme.
Rathi says, “My experiences include a woman having to deliver a child under a tree even as she suffered epileptic fits, and another woman carrying a 32-week dead foetus for five days in her womb because she was denied emergency obstetric care by four hospitals; these incidents shocked me.” She further adds, “Though India must and should reach its promised MDGs on maternal mortality and morbidity by 2015, merely achieving an ‘outside’ target will not solve the problem.”
On possible solutions, Chakravarthy adds, “To reduce maternal deaths, some of the key areas India needs to focus on include ensuring quality primary care services to all women; ensuring access to antenatal and post-natal care services; clean and safe deliveries ; reliable transport services which are available to women at all times.”
The participants were selected by an in-country selection panel of experts in the field of maternal health and were chosen on the basis of successful application and personal interviews. At the end of the ninemonth internship, they hope to achieve a better understanding of women’s health issues.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Education / by Ruchi Chopra, TNN / January 28th, 2013