Maternal & Newborn Health

We work to improve the health and survival of mothers and newborns in underprivileged communities in Mumbai through effective community action and quality, standardized health care.

City Initiative for Newborn Health (CINH)

Supported By :ICICI Centre for Child Health and Nutrition (ICCHN), Wellcome Trust & Life

Partners:

• Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) Public Health Department including Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital (LTMGH) and Medical College
• University College London, Institute of Child Health (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/)
• Vulnerable slum communities

Date of Inception :January 2004

Status :Ongoing

Target Group:

• Mothers and babies belonging to diverse socio-cultural and religious backgrounds
• Poor and middle class population accessing facilities of public health facilities

Project Area : N, T, M(East), F(North), G(North), K(West), P(North), H(East) wards of Mumbai covering a total population of 283,000.

The Facility component works with public health facilities in 8 wards – specifically with health posts covering a population of approximately 100,000 and with maternity homes/tertiary hospitals covering a radius of 6-7 kms. The Community Mobilization component covers approximately a population of 150,000 from 1,000 households in 24 slum localities based in 6 wards of Mumbai.

Goal:To improve the health and survival of mothers and newborn infants in vulnerable communities in Mumbai.

Objectives:

1. To reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates
2. To work with community members in urban slums to achieve improvements in maternal and newborn care practices and care seeking.
3. To work with municipal health service providers to strengthen decentralized primary care.
4. To achieve provision of high quality antenatal and postnatal care at health posts.
5. To encourage continuous quality improvement in maternal and neonatal services at maternity homes and hospitals and along the referral chain.
6. To test replicable and scaleable models of interventions to improve maternal and newborn health.

Methodology:

The Community Mobilization component intervention strategies are to encourage change in community through participation, self-sustaining group activities, ownership, and Appreciative Inquiry. These will be evaluated through a cluster randomised controlled trial which will be integrated with the evaluation of the primary health care strengthening program. The Facility component interventions are planned to improve maternal and neonatal health at various levels, from community to tertiary.

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Sure Start

Objectives : To provide psychotherapeutic and social intervention to women and children experiencing violence for immediate, interim, and long-term needs. Prevention of Violence Against Women (VAW) by raising awareness through community outreach activities. Long-term intervention for the empowerment of women.

Date of Inception : March 2007

Status : Ongoing

Target Group : Pregnant women and neonates, Public and private health system, Youth (18 years and above) and community-based organizations (CBOs)

Project Area : 4 slums of N-Ward, Ghatkopar, covering a population of 203,500

Goal: To sustainably enhance maternal and newborn health status through effective community action.

Objectives:

1. To significantly increase individual, household and community action that directly and indirectly improves maternal and newborn health.
2. To enhance systems and institutional capabilities for sustained improvement in maternal and newborn care and health status.

Methodology :

The Sure Start project works at two levels: namely the community level (“demand” side) and the system level (“supply side”).

At the community level, it works with expectant mothers and newborns through home visits and group sessions to effect behavior change for healthy maternal and newborn care practices. The project also mobilizes youth and community-based organizations (CBOs) to run Community Resource Centres (CRCs) for increased access to relevant information related to maternal and newborn health.

At the system level, work is with public and private health systems to standardize and improve quality of maternal and neonatal healthcare through introduction of standard, clinical protocols and establishing a referral system. Community members and health service providers also form action groups and a multi-sector consortium has been developed to sustain the project work. Appreciative Inquiry and participatory methods are used across all activities.

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