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Volume-61

Communicate Minds
15th May 2007 FORTNIGHTLY

ADVISORS
Khirod Ch. Malick

Workshop on Safe Motherhood

Several thousands of women are dieing every day from problems brought under control. The woman should also be checked medically during the 12 hours after delivery and six weeks after giving birth. Government also provides many health care facilities for the pregnant women, which need a proper channel to reach the poor people. To discuss on the issues related to safe and secure motherhood, BISWA organized an 1-day workshop on Safe Motherhood on 26th April07 at Parposhi village of Tileibani Block in Deogarh district. The workshop was supported by Neheru Yuba Kendra Sangathan (NYK) in collaboration with UNICEF. The personalities on the dais on that occasion were : Mr. G.C. Kerketta, BDO, Tileibani Block, Mr. R.K.Nayak, DIPRO, Deogarh; Dr. Diptibala Pattnaik, Ex-Joint Director ( Health ) & Consultant to BISWA, Dr. K.C. Pradhan, Medical Officer, Laimura, PHC; Mr. Pravir in Pg: 2 Kumar Pradhan, Continued Regional Coordinator, NYK; Mr. Ajoy Kumar Shroff,

Pitabasa Sethi Ajoy Shroff Jogeswar Majhi Shiv Prasad Meher Aurobinda Mahapatra

In this Issue...
Editorial hood Workshop on safe mother-

Observation of road safety week

The Link
Chief Editor Debabrata Malick Editor Kiranbala Acharya related to pregnancy and childbirth. Thousands more experience complications during pregnancy, many of which are life-threatening for the women and their children, sometimes leave them with severe disabilities. The dangers of childbearing can be greatly reduced if a woman is healthy and well nourished before becoming pregnant. If she has a health checkup by a trained health worker at least four times during every pregnancy and if the birth is assisted by a skilled birth attendant such as a doctor, nurse or midwife then the cases of death during pregnancy can be

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FROM THE CHAIRMANS DESK:

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already published its Annual Report. In this Report, RBI has issued strict guidelines so far as lending and borrowings are concerned. Here are some of the points to be noted by all of us. SHGs must be cohesive groups. Hence, SHGs must be formed taking into account local people only. RBI considers SHGs as the only Role Model of Finance in the Indian context. NBFCs are out of the purview of Regulatory authority. But NGOs like BISWA who are providing loans are accountable to the regulatory Authority. SHGs must be institutionalized i.e. they should be registered within 1 years of its formation. The registration should be evident i.e. it should be done in pen and paper. Otherwise no Microfinance support will be sanctioned to the groups. Every SHG member will be issued a Credit Card. They are supposed to retain this. KYC norms are to be followed strictly. District Coordinators should remember that employment generation is our First and foremost thrust. Accordingly, they should ensure that a minimum of 10 new micro enterprises are set up every month in each operational block on 75% - 25% basis i.e. 75% from BISWA and 25% from the beneficiary. This is in view of the Mission of BISWA of crating 10 Lakh jobs by 2010. Let us be pro-active so that we are fully prepared to meet their guidelines. This will ensure transparency in our system also.

He cautioned all the participants about the diseases like anemia and malaria which complicates the lives of the rural women. He advised the pregnant women for regular check up during pregnancy. His advice was not to use any medicine at random. All the deliveries are expected to be at institutions. It must be done at the Hospital, where proper facilities are available to meet the emergency. His opinion was supported by all other dignitaries on the dais including Dr. Diptibala Patnaik. He pointed out the responsibilities of the husbands during pregnancy and delivery.

Continued from Pg: 1

Documentation Officer, Biswa, Lady Sarpanch, Parposhi and Mr. C.S. Pradhan, DC, BISWA ( Deogarh ). Mr. G.C. Kerketta spoke about the roles and responsibilities of SHGs in Rural Development. According to him women empowerment is possible with proper functioning of SHGs. He put a birds eye view on the different schemes of Government meant for pregnant women and advised them to take full benefits of those schemes. Health is Wealth was the view of Mr. R. K. Nayak, DIPRO, Deogarh. According to him one should take care of health first. He opined that safe motherhood is the key to the real development of women, family and society. The technical session was initiated by Dr. K.C. Pradhan. He explained the antenatal, natal and post natal complications which can influence the womens health.

Dr. Diptibala Patnaik continued the technical session. Her discussion was more women friendly, participatory and interactive. Thus, there was active involvement of the participants. From the depth of her knowledge and vast experience, she advised the participants for plantation of some essential plants like Lemon, Papaya, Sajana, Banana, Neem and Tulsi. She said that judicious nutrition, stringent personal hygiene, regular health check up is the only key to good health. She differentiated between foods like tongue teasers and foods to build and maintain health. She stressed to maintaining time of taking food for the pregnant women and to drink extra water for the better health care of the new born babies. She said that the Mother Mortality Rate in the country is very high due to improper care. According to her, home delivery is not at all acceptable and if situation arises then 5 cleans, i.e. clean surface, clean thread, clean blade, clean & dry cloth and sufficient clean water must be kept before delivery. She explained the points in the Janani Surakshya Yojana (JSY) Card issued by the Government for the pregnant and lactating mothers. A detailed discussion was drawn on the facilities extended to the mother under JSY. She also clarified the roles of ASHA and Anganwadi workers.

Towards the end of the program Mr. Prabir Kumar Pradhan spoke on the relevance of such workshops. He narrated on the Janani Suraksha Yojana, and advised to go through the leaflets distributed. He informed about the forthcoming programmes of NYK. He appreciated the social and developmental activities supported by BISWA alongwith micro-finance. He also looked forward for such collaborative activities in future. Mr. C. S. Pradhan, District Coordinator, BISWA summarized all the deliberations. At the end of the workshop Mr. Ajoy Shroff proposed the vote of thanks. It was though an auspicious day of Sudasa Brata, 76 women members from different SHGs, youth clubs and PRIs participated actively in the workshop. Earlier a 2 - day workshop of similar type was organized by BISWA at its BISWA Training Institute Hall (BTI) on 11th & 12th April07. On the first day of the workshop the network members like the PRI members, NGOs, media and other retired Govt. Employees met with each other to discus on the issue of Mothers Mortality Rate (MTR) which is very high in the state. They met with an understanding that the PRI members must be sensitized about the issue of MTR. On the second day of the workshop a discussion was carried on to clarify that how the NGOs will provide the health facilities. It was also said that the members of this committee should not criticize each other at any point of time; rather they should help each other for better implementation of Safe Motherhood Program. On behalf of BISWA Mr. Harish Das organized the workshop.

Observation of Road Safety Week

Traffic fatalities are a growing problem worldwide. Today more than 1 million people a year are killed in traffic fatalities. Recently, WHO has projected that traffic fatalities will become the third leading cause of death and disability in the world by 2020, surpassing diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. According to the National Highway Traffic S a f e t y Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the U n i t e d States. In fact, more than one out of every ten (nearly 13 percent) of all drivers involved in fatal crashes across the U.S. in 2005 were between the ages of 15 and 20. These high fatality rates are the cause of lesser seat belt use and lack of proper law on relating to highway safety. Recently the world has celebrated Global Road Safety Week (GRSW), which is an international collaborative effort designed to promote road traffic safety on the world stage and to encourage governments to embrace road traffic safety as a key developmental goal. Global Road Safety Week has been celebrated by many local, national, and international organizations around the world. BISWA also celebrated the Global Road Safety Week at its BISWA Training Institute Hall (BTI) on the last day of the week i.e. on 29th April07. The workshop was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Shri S.B Agnihotri, IAS, Transport Commissioner, Govt. of Orissa. Mr. Ramesh Soy, RTO, Sambalpur and Mr. Nirmal Mohanty, MVI, Sambalpur along with Shri K. C Malick, Chairman, BISWA & Mr. S.P Meher, PRO, BISWA, were seated on the dais. At the outset Shri Malick welcomed the guests and expressed his pleasure to host such an august program on the concluding day of Road Safety Week. Speaking to the occasion he expressed his concern about precarious road accident situations in India. He said more than 12lakhs people are meeting their untimely death due to accidents on Indian Roads every year. Unfortunately 45% out of them are aged less than 45years and 25% out of them are in the age group of 19 to 25 years. The matter of real concern is that more people than this figure are spared from death but forced to lead a disabled life. He cited many examples in this connection. Unfortunately the victims of such accidents are not in a position to help themselves, whereas other passersby try to avoid participating in their rescue work. Such an apathetic situation comes because of critical role played by police in these matters, he added. Continued in Pg: 4

Continued from Pg: 3

He further said that since our organization, BISWA, has taken up the task to contribute substantially in addressing victims of road accidents, so, we are ready to shoulder any responsibility in this field. He expressed his gratitude to Mr. Agnihotri, Transport Commissioner for his sympathetic outlook towards such accident victims and assured to do whatsoever possible in this direction. A comprehensive power point presentation on Road Safety: Vulnerability and Concern was made by Dr. Abanti Prahdan, Research Officer, BISWA; which was highly appreciated by the guests as well as the audience. During this presentation Mr. Malick and Mr. Meher vividly explained the various roles played by BISWA and its volunteers in case of accidents victims being rendered relief and medical help. Speaking to the occasion Mr. Sai called upon to bring optimum level of awareness to address accident cases. Alongwith him Mr. Mohanty assured all desired cooperation from the administration to render relief and address road accident victims. Mr. P.K Dhal, Member of Advisory Board to BISWA, tried to analyze the main features of accidents and identified the components responsible for the same, in his deliberation. Mr. Agnihotri, the Chief Guest of the workshop, congratulated BISWA for celebrating Road Safety Week. He said that though Tamil Nadu has 15 times more vehicles than Orissa but the accident cases of Tamil Nadu are much lesser than that of Orissa. Showing his social responsibility toward road safety, he lodged his concern and highlighted the importance of a control room in containing road accident. He deplored that we are lacking behind in this matter. He suggested to run more control rooms at various centers in Orissa, as one accident helpline in Cuttack is not enough. Since the numbers of accident cases are very high in & around Sambalpur district, thats why he selected BISWA to work in this field. He informed the house that BSNL has issued one toll free telephone number 1073 as helpline in case of emergency like road accidents, which can be assigned to BISWA for maintaining it. He emphasized that the public present at the accident spots are more helpful than the rescue workers, so they should take initiative to inform the helpline center & in shifting the victims to hospitals. He assured his strong support for this noble activity of BISWA. On the post lunch session of the workshop, a detailed discussion on road safety took place with the District Coordinators of BISWA, Advisory Committee Members, Red Cross Personnel, journalists and other participants. They identified some accident points in and around the NH6, NH 42 and SH- 10 for setting up of Dhaba to contain accidents. Free teas are to be served to the drivers on these routes at the early hours prior to day break. This will refresh the drivers and will help restoring their concentration while driving at wee hours. At the end of the program Mr. Meher proposed the vote of thanks.

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