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.
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| Dr Bagga's vaccination workshop |
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| Poster in the civil hospital |
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| District Immunization officer Dr Bagga showing us the case where they store vaccinations |
Alexanne Neff, USA
Public Health Project Manager / Punjab Cluster Supervisor
