After School Program - Health Week

Working with the children is always a pleasure. We never fully know what to expect or which kids will show up, but it is exciting and the kids are always so eager to learn. The Punjab team maintains an ongoing After School Program that focuses on different topics each week, ranging from Math to Sports. The title of our program is a bit of a misnomer because most of the children do not in fact attend school. Most of the children do not know how to read or write, and they range from 2-17 years old. This forces us to be very creative in our delivery, and also with how we communicate. Since the children are migrants from other parts of India, they often speak either Rajasthani, Punjabi, or Hindi. None of them know English, which forces us to quickly brush up on our Hindi skills!

My week for this month involved planning activities for Health week. We reviewed body parts in Hindi, good foods to eat, and which activities are good and bad for our health. We also showed them a hand-washing video and talked about when we should wash our hands. Images are key to communication and games as well. I found that our week was very successful, the kids loved to learn and share what they knew! I find that they are receptive to what we have to say, but changing behaviour is a very long and difficult path. Even though most children know walking around barefoot in the camp where there is trash can cut their feet, they still choose not to wear shoes even if they have them.

I think we also have to focus on spreading these messages to the adults in addition to the children. That requires catering our message to a different audience but educating both of those groups together will really help us in improving the health outcomes of the community as a whole.

- Margaret Arzon, USA

Women Empowerment Project Manager, Punjab

Attending a Vaccination Workshop

A few weeks ago John, the final member of my original Punjab team, left to go home to Canada. After 8 months spent working in the migrant camps on health and the young men’s association he was going back to the great white north. Despite his excitement, he had one big regret. For the past few months he had been establishing contacts with the District Immunization Officer from our area, in hopes of having a workshop with him to learn about vaccination outreach programs in India. In addition to having a workshop, we would be gaining a valuable resource, who could introduce us to many other National Rural Health Mission employees. Despite all of his work, a last minute cancellation meant that John was unable to attend the workshop, but luckily we were able to have it even without him.

The workshop began with some background information on some of the health issues that India has faced in recent years. Things like malaria, malnutrition, polio have all affected the country and have featured heavily in national and international news about the country. The goal of the National Rural Health Mission has been to decrease the prevalence of such communicable diseases, as well as to increase access of all people in rural areas to healthcare services. One of the primary ways that the NRHM does this is through Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers and Community Health Workers (CHWs). Both of these groups provide some basic health needs to rural communities, as well as encouraging communities to seek healthcare services from government hospitals, rather than eschewing it for home medicines or expensive private hospitals. These workers are the ones who have most direct access to communities, and thus are an important bridge when trying to prevent disease through things like vaccines.

In Hoshiarpur District alone there are (at least) 26,000 children under 5 who are low income. These are the children being targeted by the government hospitals to be vaccinated for things like polio. India has had an incredibly effective polio vaccination program, so successful that polio has been recently declared eradicated in India. One of the main takeaway’s that I had from this workshop, though, was that India needed to remain vigilant about polio, and all diseases preventable by vaccination. Migration across borders from countries without extensive vaccination programs like India, are the most likely culprits behind any possible polio infections in the future. That is why every few months the government holds migrant polio vaccination days. These are days where health workers go around to the most vulnerable populations and vaccinate all children under five. Being one of the only links between the migrants and the government hospitals, this program is incredibly important and will hopefully continue to be successful in the future.

Despite my sadness that John was unable t witness the fruits of his labor, the vaccination workshop was an incredibly informative ones. In the workshop we were able to learn more than I ever could have by browsing the internet. We hope that we will be able to do more such workshops in the future, but for now we have gained a valuable resource and a lot of incredibly valuable knowledge.

Dr Bagga's vaccination workshop

Poster in the civil hospital

District Immunization officer Dr Bagga showing us the case where they store vaccinations

Alexanne Neff, USA

Public Health Project Manager / Punjab Cluster Supervisor

Utilizing Technology!

Recently I have been using Youtube videos as a way to educate and motivate the migrants in regards to health topics such as hand washing, nutrition and immunization. The use of media is interesting because in a way it has been a paradox between a hurdle and a tool.

First to start off with context, the migrants in Paro, Punjab live on government land. The insecurity of their future looms down at them as a government building is being constructed meters away. The construction is taking place on land which they lived on until they were forced to move.

Their lives are an enigma in many ways, a condition of acceptance of their status is inherited. Their children play and spend time on the construction site where there camp once stood. Although it’s not just the children who spend time here, the adults from the camp could be found here wasting time as well. As the construction takes place, in a small brick room adjacent to the construction there is a television hooked up to a satellite.

The children and some of the adults could be found here. This small room with a small television proved to be a problem at times, in particular when we wanted to work with the children. Parting them from the television became a bit of a chore.  

This in turn became another small hurdle in our work with the migrants, along with communication gaps.

As time went on it was suggested to me that some people in Naddi had found videos in Hindi, which they use. With some simple research I managed to find videos which were able to convey ideas in concepts that I had long wanted to get across but couldn’t due to language gaps. When utilized the videos proved to be quite a successful tool to overcome hurdles. Here enters the paradox of how media and technology can be both a hindrance and a tool. I hope we can find other ways of using technology and media in creative, educational ways, which allows as certain degree of independence and control.

John Vargas, Canada

Health Project Manager, Punjab