| Gender Resource Centre / Samajik Suvidha Kendra |
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| Health |
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| Health and hygiene is a constant challenge for people living in the extensive slum areas comprising of temporary shacks housing hundreds of households. The survey showed that average number of children per household is 5-6. Some women have as many as 8 children. Reproductive health is a serious concern in this area. |
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| CEQUIN's efforts to create significant impact involve three core areas of work: |
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| Health Camps |
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The health camps are providing free general check-up to the community with a special focus on the girl child and reproductive health to promote maternal health. In every camp there is a Gynecologists, General Physician and a Child Specialist. Free medicines are made available to the people. These camps have helped to address several neglected diseases like Tuberculosis by taking the help of the Municipal Corporation Dispensary (MCD). Serious cases identified in such camps are helped to get specialized medical care through referrals given by these doctors. These camps have helped create awareness about CEQUIN’s commitment to serve the community. A total of 2915 people have so far benefited from the health camps. The Centre is working towards creating awareness on neglected aspects of mental health and menopause associated health issues, as well as specialized areas like dentistry,
ophthalmology and dermatology. |
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| Weekly OPDs |
The Centre is providing free health checkups through a weekly doctor’s visit. The objective is to be able to provide regular health check-ups and the required privacy for women from these conservative households to talk about their medical problems. 866 women have availed of the weekly OPD so far. The community’s response is best expressed in Nishi’s words, the Project Officer of GRC, “In the beginning there were hardly 4-5 patients coming but now, often we have more than 50 patients in 2 hours of OPD check-ups.” The Project Coordinator of GRC, Rizwan, enthusiastically shares future plans, “We need to scale up this regular OPD for at least 4 hours to address the needs of the community effectively.” |
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| Nutrition |
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The Centre organizes camps to promote awareness on nutritional requirements. The doctors of the health centre are providing feedback on the health status of the community and the key nutrient deficiencies. Keeping in mind the immediate needs of the community and with a primary focus on girl child health; special cooking classes with low cost nutritious recipes are undertaken by a
professionally qualified Nutritionist. |
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| Initially it was a challenge to convince people to come for these workshops as people saw this as just a cooking class. However, with consistent efforts to create awareness about the value of nutritious food through the other operations of the GRC; participation in these camps has increased significantly. So far 941 people have enthusiastically participated in these camps |
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On the whole CEQUIN’s efforts in the Health initiatives is, at level one, to provide medical help and at the second level, through the nutrition camps create awareness and skills among the community to take direct responsibility for living healthy lives. |
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| Case Studies |
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 Health is Wealth |
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