Context

Wipro has a lighting factory at Waluj in Aurangabad, a backward place that lacks development and is also drought prone. We explored various options and different partners to work in this area. During our interaction with the community for over a year, it was clear that the need of the hour was a health care center which can cater to every one in the area. Along with that there was a need to strengthen the anganwadi system and train the village level health workers to make the project sustainable.

Partner

We work with an NGO called Savitribai Phule Mahila Ekatma Samaj Mandal (SPMESM). It is a reputed NGO working in this area for over 40 years and has extensive experience in working in health care and community mobilization of rural communities.

Details

Sanjeevani was launched in November 2009, in Waluj, Maharashtra. It covers 9 small villages, all situated within 10 – 25 kms area from Aurangabad city. The population of the villages ranges from 300 to 1500 where the primary occupation is agriculture. The rainfall in the region is inadequate and water scarcity is a major issue. Due to poverty, malnutrition is another issue associated with this region.

The villages are in the hilly terrain of Aurangabad district and are not well connected; two of them are inaccessible during monsoon. All the 9 villages, planned for intervention, have genuine need for basic medical services as they are not covered by Govt PHCs. The awareness regarding health is very low; cases of malnutrition and infant mortality are a common problem here. The awareness regarding reproductive healthcare is totally nil and early marriages are a common factor increasing the risk for both the mother and the new born.

Over the next few years, Sanjeevani aims to build a sustainable primary health care system with the involvement of the local population.

Since the villages are widespread, to make access easy for the villagers, we have launched a mobile health clinic in this region. To make our intervention a success as far as the community is concerned, we are working with the local anganwadi institutions, through whom we can reach the children to ascertain and improve their health. The program has been working on the following:

	Identify and treat malnutrition cases in the project area
	Identify and register pregnant women and provide them with basic medical services to ensure healthy pregnancy and safe delivery
	Reduce the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of the area
	Create awareness regarding personal hygiene, diet and vaccination through awareness programs and counseling sessions.

To ensure sustainability, the project will work towards

	Developing one trained health worker in every village to provide immediate medical support.
	Establishing a health insurance program to cover significant medical needs
	Tie up with the Hedgewar Rural Health Clinics and hospitals in Aurangabad to further support the medical needs.