Maternal health- how policies can be ineffective
Geeta Bhen was in her third trimester when I met her in Undithal. When she saw me standing at her doorsteps to meet her, she smiled with the little energy she had and placed a rectangular mat on the floor for me to sit on.
I had come to her house to learn about women’s health and to assess the implementation of the ICDS, a program that provided heath services to pregnant women and infants. As part of my work, I would visit the houses of pregnant or nursing women in Undithal to ask them if they had received iron folic acid cheap viagra (IFA).
Geeta Bhen had received IFA cialis, and she enthusiastically showed me the full set of 90 tablets that an ICDS worker had given her. But before I moved on to my next question, I took a second look at her tablets. Not one had been eaten and I wondered why.
She placed her gungat (veil) over her head shyly as she responded to my question. Geeta hadn’t taken the tablets because she did not know what they were for and she was scared she would fall sick if she took them.
In India, I met many other women like Geeta who had been recipients of tablets, pills or vaccinations but did not understand their purpose. In essence, for Geeta, simply receiving tablets did not necessarily translate to positive health outcomes; there often were gaps in communication or there simply was no communication.
On the one hand, pills were passed out, boxes were checked, and that often was enough to keep the policymakers satisfied. But this, in itself, wouldn't necessarily result in a healthier society.
Now, as we approach 2015, we have two major Millennium Development Goals related to maternal and child health:
By doing so, do we end up viewing people as targets or goals rather than people with needs, emotions, fears, and beliefs?
In the face of huge public health goals, is it possible to move forward without de-humanizing the beneficiary?
I'll end this post with a few pictures of the women of Undithal. They cannot be viewed simply as numbers, targets, or figures. These are women who move, who breathe, who speak, who question, and who fight back.
I had come to her house to learn about women’s health and to assess the implementation of the ICDS, a program that provided heath services to pregnant women and infants. As part of my work, I would visit the houses of pregnant or nursing women in Undithal to ask them if they had received iron folic acid cheap viagra (IFA).
Geeta Bhen had received IFA cialis, and she enthusiastically showed me the full set of 90 tablets that an ICDS worker had given her. But before I moved on to my next question, I took a second look at her tablets. Not one had been eaten and I wondered why.
She placed her gungat (veil) over her head shyly as she responded to my question. Geeta hadn’t taken the tablets because she did not know what they were for and she was scared she would fall sick if she took them.
In India, I met many other women like Geeta who had been recipients of tablets, pills or vaccinations but did not understand their purpose. In essence, for Geeta, simply receiving tablets did not necessarily translate to positive health outcomes; there often were gaps in communication or there simply was no communication.
On the one hand, pills were passed out, boxes were checked, and that often was enough to keep the policymakers satisfied. But this, in itself, wouldn't necessarily result in a healthier society.
Now, as we approach 2015, we have two major Millennium Development Goals related to maternal and child health:
- GOAL 4: Reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds
- GOAL 5: Reduce the maternal mortality by three-fourths
By doing so, do we end up viewing people as targets or goals rather than people with needs, emotions, fears, and beliefs?
In the face of huge public health goals, is it possible to move forward without de-humanizing the beneficiary?
I'll end this post with a few pictures of the women of Undithal. They cannot be viewed simply as numbers, targets, or figures. These are women who move, who breathe, who speak, who question, and who fight back.