Location: Jaipur

Situation:

Despite exceptional growth, India still has major social inequalities and the current economic development has not managed to reduce these. Frequent terrorist attacks fan the religious and cultural tensions which threaten the unity of the country. At the request of the local organisation JKSMS, Doctors of the World (DoW) Midi-Pyrenees regional delegation has been developing a mother and child healthcare project since 2007, supporting primary healthcare in ten shantytowns in Jaipur.

Activities:

The programme's activities include data collection, and that enables us to adapt the activities to the context. DoW UK has also implemented a community mother and child health project, working with a network of public and private health services and in collaboration with traditional birth attendants. Other activities include finalising a Birth Preparedness Plan for pregnant women and newborn babies and improving women's access to family planning and treatment for pelvic conditions and sexually transmitted infections. The team is working on expanding the programme into all the shantytowns by training 'resource groups' and community leaders and by creating information, education and communication (IEC) tools based on Indian culture.

Outlook:
DoW UK will continue the work already started and will strengthen its links with specialist organisations working in micro-finance in shantytowns in order to consolidate the network of NGOs working in these areas. To ensure long term sustainability, the work will take into account the level of human mobility in the shantytowns. These efforts will include looking for funding, developing advocacy messages and improving social worker training.