Building community capacity for Child Health Now
Grant Project Name: Building Community Capacity for Child Health Now
Funded by: Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (3.9 years) and United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID-PPA) (2.5 years)
Time frame: 4 years (1 October 2011 – 30 June 2015)
Purpose and Objective: Nepal Child Health Now Campaign (CHN) is aimed at reducing preventable deaths of mother and children under-five in disadvantaged areas of Nepal by improving Maternal Child Health practices of community and influencing government policy and system to reach the most disadvantaged children.
A campaign called Child Health Now was formally launched in June 2012.
It is being implemented in coordination with local community groups, health workers, religious and political leaders, coordination committees and government stakeholders. The project has been able to improve coordination and collaboration with government line agencies to strengthen the health system and increase the most disadvantaged communities’ access to health services.
Concern Groups and Campaign Ambassadors have been selected, trained and mobilised in communities to advocate on issues related to child health and impart messages on simple solutions to prevent the deaths of children under-five in their own villages.
The project is being implemented at the national level and in Doti and Kailali districts by World Vision in partnership with National Maternal and Child Health Alliance, Samaj Sewa Doti, Nepal Red Cross Society and Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal. To date, it has reached 91,791 people through its interventions.
MEET A FAMILY BENEFITTING FROM THIS PROJECT:
Can you imagine how painful it could be for a woman to fear she may never hold her baby in her arms? After having three miscarriages Sita, 21, had this very feeling when she was pregnant for the fourth time. She had miscarriages before during the 6th, 4th and 5th month of her pregnancies and she never knew the reasons behind it.
However the times have changed. Now Sita is a happy mother of 11-month-old Sujita. And she gives all the credit to Laxmi Ojha.
Photo: Laxmi Ojha, an ambassador for CHN, visits with Sita and her baby.
Laxmi Ojha is Child Health Now (CHN) ambassador for World Vision Nepal. CHN ambassadors visit house to house and counsel women about child health and maternal health in the community. Laxmi had known about Sita’s past pregnancies, and was very worried about her. Sita used to cry often while talking with her about not having a child and having terrible memories about the miscarriages.
For Sita's fourth pregnancy, Laxmi encouraged her to go for vaccinations and checkups with a doctor.
When Laxmi learned about Sita's fourth pregnancy she was very happy and she immediately asked her to go for her vaccinations and antenatal check-ups with a doctor. Laxmi thought the doctor would be better for Sita as she could get better services and consultations from him.
Sita lives with her father-in-law and husband Binesh, so she still had to take care of all the household chores as well as helping in their field.
Laxmi met with Sita's father-in-law and Binesh and asked them to take care of her and let her rest from the tedious everyday work at home. Sita could feel the change in her family’s sensitivity towards her as they would take care of the household work and ask her to take rest as much as possible.
A healthy baby at last
When Sujita arrived, it was the happiest day of Sita’s life and the life of her family. Sujita was a healthy 3 kg baby at birth. However, by 7 months she was only 3 kg and malnourished. Laxmi again visited Sita and told her that her child was malnourished and asked her to attend the World Vision nutrition training.
When Baby Sujita arrived, it was the happiest day of Sita’s life.
Sita learned many things like how to prepare nutritious food for her baby and the importance of breastfeeding.
“Now I feed her lito [an nutritious Nepali baby food] 3 times, food 2 times, and milk everyday and she has become healthier and gained some weight. She used to get fever, stomach ache, diarrhoea, and cough but now she seldom gets sick,” says Sita.
Sita had no one at home to teach her about caring for children and a proper diet for her child, so she never learned until she took the nutrition training.
Sita is a happy and content mother now. Her biggest learning after her fourth pregnancy, she shares, is that she has learned about the importance of rest and a balanced diet.
“Most importantly I have realised that I was doing heavy work especially on the farm before, proper rest and my family support has now given me my daughter which is the best thing for me and I feel very lucky,” she exclaims cheerfully.