India: Mameta’s “blow” home at home, Unicef’s childhood aid scheme – eSHOP24X7

It has been tomorrow in the town of Jainpur de Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The birds singing in the town, the bells of the children who go to school, the voices of the women will fill the water of the new water tank system are echoing.

In the midst of all this, Asha’s worker, Mameta Devi, is also preparing for her daily routine.

Suddenly, a telephone bell dissolves the peace of Mameta’s house.

The voice of a worrying mother is heard by phone: “Asha Didi, my son has very fast fever. I have called 108”.

Mamta responds quickly collecting her health bag: “You did it absolutely well, I come immediately. Waiting for me.”

Mamta arrives at the mother’s house and knocks on the door. This Mamta’s blow is not only a blow to the door, but a promise of health, security and hope for families fighting with dangerous diseases.

Mame, touching the door, think: “This is my job: help my community and help them.”

Initiative start

Before 2018, the Gorakhpur district was in control of this terrible epidemic. Especially during the monsoon season, hundreds of children died here due to the very serious ancephilitis syndrome (AES) and Japanese anncephilis (je) during the monsoon season.

Mameta remembers, saying: “At that time we did not know what this disease is. Children’s parents began to feel that this is a curse, so they began to sweep instead of taking medical services. When the children were taken to the hospital, it was too late.

Then, in 2018, the Government of Uttar Pradesh began the Dastak Abhiyan with the help of UNICEF. Under this, immediate reprisals were taken to deal with very serious encephalitis syndrome and Japanese encephalitis.

Dr. Ashutosh Kumar Dubey, medical director of Gorakhpur, says Dastak means hitting each house! Which ensures that no child is behind.

The purpose of the campaign is to identify the symptoms of the disease and prevent it through vaccination. As part of the campaign, people realized when they went to each house.

Daya Shankar Singh, a social change officer and behavior of UNICEF in India, said: “This campaign (Knock), which was in collaboration with UNICEF and the Department of Health, began with 7 districts.

The habit of immediate medical care and use of safe water for Bukhhar was promoted. For this, the workers of ASHA and the employees of Anganwadi were trained to communicate with the community and explain them effectively.

Help with e-quachs

Mameta’s role changed by joining Dastak Abhiyan as Asha worker. Mameta, after training, got into the task of changing his community attitude towards health.

Mameta said that “we first learned to recognize the first symptoms of the disease and advise families. They also taught us how to use digital equipment such as Ekavach Portal to monitor cases.”

The Ekavach portal helps provide health services better to health workers and community health officers (CHOS).

This helps them provide and monitor important health information for families in areas such as maternal and child health, nutrition and non -communicable diseases.

Mamta goes door to door every day filling slippers and stickers in her health bag. Mamta says: “It was not easy at the beginning. Families doubted vaccination. He felt that the injection would get their children. To ensure that vaccination is safe, I vaccinated my children in front of the people of the community. Then he believed in me.

The blow campaign proved to be a significant turn for Mameta. This campaign not only provided training to Mameta, but also provided the help of necessary equipment and experts.

She explains: “We quickly learned to recognize the first symptoms, consult families and save life immediately. For the first time I felt that my work was bringing a real change.

Campaign throughout the state

This campaign arose as a state movement, which brought a revolution of consciousness in the 75 districts and saw an increase in the vaccination rate. Due to the growing confidence in government health centers, people began to decrease in the number of people who undergo registered doctors.

There was a significant improvement in clean water, cleaning and mosquito control, which reduced the cases of EA and Je in Gorakhpur.

Mameta emerged as Dastak Abhiyan’s face in his town. Now each house welcomes Mameta hotly. Together with UNICEF, around 16 government departments, including health, hygiene and education, work, which UNICEF provides technical orientation and resources.

Campaign impact

One of the main tools of the blow campaign was to identify the symptoms of the disease and make a rapid treatment. Mameta still remembers a case. In his town, a child had acute fever during the monsoon season. His parents called Mameta after a little hesitation.

Mameta asked the parents to call 108 immediately and went to the health center with them. The child received adequate treatment in the child’s intervensive medical unit (UCIC).

Pediatrician Dr. Gyan Prakash Gupta says: “Before Dastak Abhiyan, children often died of such a illness. Now parents immediately come to the hospital with their children and, due to the UCIC and asha trained workers, we are successful in saving the children’s lives.

As part of the Dastak Abhiyan, Mamta organizes health fields, in which children are vaccinated against je. In the camp, mothers come to collect health related to health. Mameta says: “Vaccines protect children from diseases that wreaked havoc in our community.”

Neelu, mother of the village, said: “Asha Didi explained to us how vaccines work. Now I am not afraid to vaccinate my children, but I am sure that my son will be safe to vaccinate.

After the start of the Dastak Abhiyan, positive health results were revealed in Uttar Pradesh. Now, every year, 35 Lakh 91 thousand families advance and vaccinate to avoid aes and je.