Integral Health Development Centre
(Arogyo Bhavan)
The overall concept is equity oriented as described in the 1978 Alma Ata conference. Equity is to be considered here as equal access to health care according to need and equal utilization of health care according to need, which can be termed as universal coverage of health care. Access in this case is defined in a broader way, which includes physical access to economic and social access. Utilization of health care has to address the issues of physical distance from the health facility, cost involved in using the health facility (fees, travel, medicines, lost income), perceptions of need and utility of health care, cultural constrains on the use of medical care and attitudes of health professionals. Together with equity the social and gender justice, quality improvement based on cost effective solutions, appropriate human resources development and desired lifestyle changes are also envisaged.
The programme will have a multi sectorial approach to health problems insuring the adoption and use of appropriate technology with an emphasis on health promotional activities. The community participation in decision-making is the key word especially in the context of decentralization and the emergence of micro level forms of democracy like self-help groups and the Neighborhood groups. The programme plans to link all the developmental activities of the area to converge to the health sector.
The programme extends into participation in decision-making, resource mobilization, implementation of activities, monitoring and evaluation. Thus the possibilities of increasing the efficacy and effectiveness in dealing with the health problems and, of ensuring the acceptability of the approach both the target community and health service providers are addressed. It is expected that these will guarantee the sustainability of the approach and programme. Being implemented in an environment of overall development initiatives the health programme will have broader social and economic effects.
The overall objective of the project is to bring together all the players in the health sector, integrate all the developmental activities related to proximate determinants of health through Panchayat Raj institutions for improving the health status of the population by developing a sustainable model of health care system.
Project Partners:
The project partners can be classified into two groups, namely the core partners and the supporting partners. Core partners include the local self-governments, Community Medicine Department of Medical College, network of self-help groups, primary health centres and the district medical office. The supported partners include neighboring government hospitals, charitable and mission hospital in the area, and the traditional practitioners.
Components:
Specific objectives of the Project :
Present Activities :
Through organizing periodic curricular workshops
The implementing organization will organize 18 curricular workshops (each of 3 days duration) with the help of resource persons drawn from the respective field (2 external faculties and two local facilitators) over the span of 18 months of tenure in course of this programme for the participants for creating their awareness on health (promotive, preventive and curative), nutrition for pregnant women and new-born babies, social issues and vocational skill-development through Entrepreneurship Development grammas(EDP).
The Trust is fully aware of the need of health, hygiene and nutrition in village life. It has undertaken activities on child health care, child nutrition, public hygiene, rural sanitation, and immunization. The need for such health services are gradually intensified for village people and resulted in the establishment of Ushagram Integral Health Development Centre (Arogyo Bhavan) providing preventive and curative services as well as health education. In Arogyo Bhavan, medical consultation and provision for nominal medicine have been made available in allopathic, homeopathic and ayurvedic including naturopathy treatment for patients for villages around Ushagram. Total 997 patients in allopathic, 962 in homeopathic, 403 ayurvedic and naturopathy are benefited in a year.
A well equipped arrangement with dental machines and chairs for dental unit has been set up for dental ailments. Total 1836 patients have been benefited. Universal immunization in 14 adjoining villages has been undertaken by the Health workers of Ushagram Integral health Development Centre in full cooperation with BMOH & CMOH, Nadia district.
Realizing the necessary importance and long-term benefit of Ayurvedic and herbal medicines, Arogya Bhavan has started providing regular medicinal consultation in this area and helped the villagers by providing free medicinal plants and herbs and also Ayurvedic medicines. The Trust has started cultivation of medicinal plants and herbs on one acre of land donated by foreign well-wishers. Similarly, the trust is extending help to the villagers to organize small herbal garden in villages with a view to apply medicinal plants and herbs in their daily life.
The Reproductive Child Health Programme was started from the new Millennium year – 2000 along with other health programme of Ushagram Trust.
The basic objective of the pilot project was to provide intensive training on reproductive and sexual health to the pregnant mothers, fathers, adolescent boys and girls in the villages under project areas of the Trust.
The main missions of the programme:
During the year 2000, the Trust started training in village centre with the technical support of CINI-Chetana, Chetana Resource Centre & UNICEF. Total 250 village women attended the training. The basic objective was to highlight personal health hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, promotive health, preventive health and curative health. 10 nos. of camps were organized during that period. 34 camps were organized in the year 2001-02.
