Addressing the issue of water is a crucial step for the development of this country. Without access to safe water development becomes impossible.

Tangalle main road

“Water-borne diseases are one of the most serious threats

to child health in developing countries and affect mainly the poorest people.”

Along with reducing the incidence of water-borne illnesses like hepatitis and diarrhea, this new project will give women and children more hours in the day. This will allow for women, especially, to use that time to bring in income rather than travel long distances to retrieve water.

Click here to read “New water supply in Sri Lanka brings health and hope to thousands.”

Photo via Creative Commons / Krankman

In the essay she recalls her  feelings about the conditions in these wards and the availability of care for women in labor.  Pregnant herself during the assignment, she takes a more personal approach when portraying the stories of the women:

There were dozens of women in labor. Most of them weren’t making much noise, but the conditions were pretty rudimentary. But the one thing that really set the hospital apart was that there are trained professionals. There were two doctors, maybe even three. They were very aware of everyone’s condition. They were following people closely. Although the hospital looked pretty basic, I did feel as if the doctors knew what they were doing. That was actually quite reassuring, because in some of the hospitals I’ve been in there are times when there are only midwives present, and there are no doctors. So when there are complications, the women have nowhere to go.

Click here to for the full article: From One Maternity Ward, a Growing World

Iodine is a critical component of thyroxine, a thyroid hormone that helps control metabolism, and also plays a key role in the development of the fetal nervous system.  A fetus that does not take in sufficient iodine will not develop a normal nervous system.  In developed counties, adding iodine to table salt has all but eliminated cretinism, a thyroid disorder causing mentally retardation and physical deformity.  In addition to iodized salt, iodine can also be acquired through milk, seafood, and crops grown in iodine-rich soil.

Thailand salt farmers

Efforts by the United Nations and the World Health Organization have significantly reduced iodine deficiency in the developing world, but some regions continue to struggle.  Thailand is one such example: not all brands of salt are iodized, and there is a huge reliance on fish sauce to make foods salty.  For this reason, even the wealthiest Thai people often still lack sufficient iodine in their diets.  The goal now is to iodize both salt and fish sauce in the hope of raising IQs and preventing irreversible brain damage in the very young.

Click here to read “The Miracle of iodine: How 10 cents and some table salt can raise IQs in the developing world.”

Click here to read “Iodine. Metabolic control, modulation of oestrogen, and foetal health.”

Photo via Creative Commons / JJ Harrison

Jaya Singh: SAM's India-Based Director of Research and Program Development

It is a hot September day in Musafirkhana, Uttar Pradesh.  We’ve been driving on the Lucknow-Benaras highway for several hours before swerving off onto a dirt path, rice fields on either side, our driver honking away the few bicyclists and pedestrians we encounter.  The car pulls up to a temple that rises abruptly from the fields.  Next to the temple is the asbestos-roofed shack that serves as an assembly hall.  We’ve reached our destination: a meeting of women from 4-5 adjoining villages with Save A Mother Swasthya Sakhis (health activists).

I am prepared for the smell of grime, and the heat and dust that pervades rural India.  I am unprepared for the reception – bouquets of hibiscus and marigold encased in thin pink and white paper before being ushered onto a dhurrie to face the audience.  About a hundred women stare back, most of them in saris, glass bangles gleaming at their wrists, many with a thick line of bright orange vermilion in their hair.  They sit in perfect order, cross-legged in rows of eight each.  A handful of girls in salwar kameezes, dupattas neatly pinned, sit in the first two rows.  Some stare straight at us, a few giggle and hold hands looking down at the grey cement floor.  A girl who could be anywhere from  twelve to fifteen is seated in the front row wearing a black, short-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans.  Change is afoot in Musafirkhana.

A Swasthya Sakhi, her hair coiled into a knot on her uncovered head, stands.   “I was nine when I got married.  Sixteen when I had my first child.  They bathed my child in cold water after it was born.  He died.  My second child also died.  No one told us what to do.  Now that we know, staying healthy is the most important work we can do.  Whether girls or boys, we cannot be careless about our children.”  The hall reverberates with applause.

A second woman rises.  No more than forty years of age, she is bent over.   “I was married at five.  I had my first child at fourteen.  My labor lasted four days.  The pain . . . ”  Her voice catches.  “After four days, they brought a woman to help, she cut the cord with a blade.  For ten days I remained in a dark room, in the same clothes, without bathing.  My child died.”

A third woman stands.  You sense the determination in her stance before she utters a word.  “I do not want to share my story.  Perhaps you’ll cry if you hear it, perhaps I’ll cry.”  She pauses.  Her voice breaks.  Her eyes flash.  Breakdown.  She resumes, “I do not want to share my story, just that now we want to educate our children.”

She starts singing a song.  I recognize the popular film tune, but the lyrics are about immunizations during pregnancy.  About five things to do during pregnancy and child birth.  About cord care and kangaroo care in newborns.  The crowd joins in the chorus.

Another song.  Am I hearing this right?  She just sang that using dirty cloth pads during menstruation can cause germs to traverse the birth canal and lead to infection, even cancer.

Another song by a Mehr un Nissa, a Muslim woman standing on the grounds of a Hindu temple, sings about marrying after age twenty and having a child only after twenty-one.

The constant refrain in the meeting?  We will not let our daughters suffer what we went through.  The energy in the room is electrifying.  The determination palpable.

The meeting concludes with a Q&A session.  A scrawny teenager, eyes sparkling, body twitching with energy, stands up and says in perfectly enunciated Hindi:  “I heard you’ve come from America on an airplane.  Give us the formula to become rich so that we may take an airplane to go to America to see you.”

Are you up to her challenge?  Change is afoot in the villages where Save A Mother works.

Get Involved http://saveamother.org/getinvolved

Donate http://saveamother.org/donate

Email info@saveamother.org

Recalling the glamor of years past, the third annual Save A Mother charity gala, held on September 16, 2011, successfully brought 220 of Chicago’s philanthropically minded gliteratti to the historic Drake Hotel for a night of fine dining and casino-inspired activities. This year’s event married the theme of Monte Carlo with the mystique of a masquerade ball and proved to be the premier charity gala of the summer.

Save A Mother also honored Mr. Niranjan Shah and Mrs. Pratima Shah for their lifelong commitment and outstanding contributions to humanitarian work.

The event raised over $60,000 to provide health solutions for underprivileged women and children in India.

For more details about the event, please visit
http://www.masquerademasti.org

Save a Mother's 2011 Chicago Masquerade Masti was held at the Drake Hotel.

Masqueraders enjoying the 2011 Chicago Masquerade Masti.

Houston Masquerade Masti 2011

The Houston Chapter of Save a Mother held its second annual fundraiser earlier this year, complete with hand-painted masks and resplendent crimson and yellow decor.  The event took placed on May 13, 2011, at the Chateau Crystale.  The evening’s program was emceed by Girija Bhargava Patel, Shayam Parikh, and the Board of the Houston Chapter, and included presentations on SAM’s mission and methods in the field. Guest speaker Dr. Harvinder Singh Bedi shared data comparing infant and maternal mortality rates in the US and other countries to illustrate how India lags behind on each of these indices. Entertainment was provided by local talent with songs by Keka and Satyajit Kar, Hardik Jani, Raghavendra Prabahakar, Neha Srivasta and the ICC Idol winners.

The event raised over $50,000 to provide health solutions for underprivileged women and children in India.

Revelers enjoying the 2011 Houston Masquerade Masti.

The Houston chapter of Save a Mother hosted its 2nd annual Masquerade Masti at the Chateau Crystale.

Two Sri Lankan women working at a tea estate

The family of Muthamari, a Sri Lankan mother, has been relying on town credit since she fell ill and became unable to work. With a family income of $100 a month, 70% goes to food and 30% to school and medical expenses.  A typical meal in Muthamari’s family is rice and pulses (a type of legume).  It is clear that several nutrients are lacking in her diet and that of her children.

Public health records indicate that stunted growth is a pervasive problem in Sri Lanka.  Children who are stunted do not show high prospects.  This condition, aggravated by a persistent lack of food and funds, reduces the overall productivity of the family, feeding a vicious cycle poverty and poor health.  By working at the household level and providing affordable food resources, the issue of malnutrition can be tackled in this region.

To learn more, click here to read “UNICEF-supported programme tackles malnutrition on tea estates in Sri Lanka.”

Photo via Creative Commons / Trengarasu

Click here to read “Global Activists Seek Improved Nutrition for Pregnant Women, Infants.”

Photo via Creative Commons / Ragesoss

As children continue to gain weight long past infancy, parents can no longer rely on the received wisdom that children outgrow their “baby fat.”  Studies have shown that individuals who are overweight in infancy and early childhood are at greater risk for obesity later in life: a child who is obese at age 12 has a 75% chance of being obese in adulthood.  This stark trend should be a call to action to promote healthy eating habits at every age.

Click here to read “Obese Child Stroke Victim Aged Just Six.”

Photo via Creative Commons / Partyzan_XXI.

But what appears like a boon to the impoverished can carry unseen risks.  Because clinical trials are bound only by the host country’s ethical regulations, the more stringent standards of developed nations like the United States and Great Britain do not apply, and the potential for abuse runs high.  In Andrha Pradesh and Gujarat, seven girls died following a recent trial of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, causing the study to be suspended.  Although the vaccine was ultimately ruled out as a cause of death, serious ethical violations were uncovered, and publicity surrounding the investigation contributed to a global scare about vaccine safety.

The findings were all the more troubling given the high-profile organizations involved.  The trial was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and co-run by the international health charity PATH and by the Indian Council of Medical Research.  When even the best-intended and well-funded trials violate ethical norms, perhaps it is time to ask whether the human cost for new treatments is simply too high.

Click here to read “The Other Half: Too bitter a pill to swallow.”

Click here to read “Vaccine trial’s ethics criticized.” (log-in required)

Photo via Creative Commons / Ekta Parishad.

Click here to read “Global Framework for Action.”

Photo via Creative Commons

<< Fact 5 ■  Fact 7 >>

Click here to read “Future depends on diet.”

Click here to read “Major causes of death in neonates and children under 5.”

Photo via Creative Commons

]]> http://www.saveamother.org/child-nutrition-interesting-fact-6/feed/ 0 http://www.saveamother.org/child-nutrition-interesting-fact-2/ http://www.saveamother.org/child-nutrition-interesting-fact-2/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:33:15 +0000 Ruba Alafifi http://www.saveamother.org/?p=2929

An estimated loss of 10% of lifetime earnings occurs because of child hunger and its negative effects on physical status and intellectual development. 

Click here to read “Global Framework for Action.”

Photo via Creative

Continue reading Child Nutrition: Interesting Fact 2

An estimated loss of 10% of lifetime earnings occurs because of child hunger and its negative effects on physical status and intellectual development. 

<< Fact 1  ■  Fact 3 >>

Click here to read “Global Framework for Action.”

Photo via Creative Commons

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The discovery of the New Delhi superbug has brought into focus the urgent need for a national policy on antibiotic prescriptions.  It all started with a report in Lancet in August 2010 of a new microbe discovered in India, nicknamed New Delhi metallo-b-lactamase-1, or NDM-1.  The enzyme NDM-1 makes bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics, including carbapenems, antibiotics of last resort.

Antimicrobial resistance is generally the result of misusing medication.  In the absence of guidelines from the government and easy over the counter availability, antibiotics are used indiscriminately in India.  While doctors may prescribe antibiotics without assessing needs, people also self medicate without attention to course of treatment.   Not finishing a prescribed course of treatment, low-quality medicines and wrong prescriptions all contribute to drug resistance, making infections caused by drug resistant microorganisms difficult to treat.

Although viewed as a problem exacerbated by the developing world, developed nations are also recognizing the urgency of antibiotic resistance.  The US has begun to support measures to address the issue of antimicrobial resistance: Policy Statement 9908 advocates educational programs for providers and patients on appropriate antibiotic usage as well as recommendations for increased and improved oversight.  Amongst developing nations, Chile has banned over-the-counter sale of antibiotics and a prescription is now mandatory for access to antibiotics.  China will also launch a nationwide campaign this year to regulate the antibiotic use.

In response to the global outcry over NDM-1, the Health Ministry in India formed a 13-member expert panel in September 2010 to create a proposal for an antibiotic policy.  The proposal was submitted to the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad earlier this year and is currently being finalized.

To start with, the new national antibiotic policy is likely to be piloted in three government hospitals in Delhi: Lady Hardinge Medical College, Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. It will also be mandatory for antibiotic drugs to be sold against prescriptions.  In addition, doctors will have to write prescriptions for antibiotics in duplicate with pharmacists having to retain a copy for a year from the date of sale in order to facilitate verification and audit.  Implementation of such rigorous regulation and government policy is likely to be effective as proven by example in other countries.

I have been volunteering with Save a Mother since August 2010 when I started the Save A Mother Club at my high school.  Our primary goal is to spread awareness of the lives of poor women in India.  Using the tools that can be found on the Save a Mother website, our club has taught many students at our high school of the troubles these women must endure and how they can help the cause.  Doing so has not only brought a sense of awareness at our school, but has also encouraged students to take an active role in helping the cause.  We plan to start a fundraising program through selling custom Save a Mother shirts, auctioning items from India, and a car wash.  Regardless of what we choose to do, the important part is that all of the proceeds will benefit the cause and help change the lives of several women and children in India.  That is the real push factor behind our club; knowing at the end of the day that we are not only positively changing the life of a mother, but also that of a child who has limitless potential.

In the future, I hope to see a world that isn’t so crowded with hate and mistrust. As idealistic as it is, I hope that one day a society can be born that would raise a generation filled with empathy and benevolence. A generation that would be able to look beyond the background of an individual, and instead, see them for who they are, one just like themselves.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed his long debated health care bill into law, but it still remains an issue of controversy among concerned Americans.

While the United States deals with its own share of health care issues, there is another world of health concerns on the other side of the world and some inquisitive University of Chicago students in a new student group have taken notice.

The Global Affairs Leadership Society (GALS) became a Registered Student Organization (RSO) in the fifth week of the first quarter. The basic premise behind the group is to provide a place where students can discuss issues of conflict within women’s rights in the Western and in the developing world. Not only do they seek to talk about these important issues, they also want to take an active role in combatting them.

“So many people spend their time talking about important issues, but spend no time doing anything about it,” says Molly Cunningham, a GALS board member and 2nd year in the College, “GALS is ‘doing’ rather than just talking.”

One of the first issues the group has sets its eyes on is the high maternal mortality rate in India. According to saveamother.org, over 160 women in India die each day due to problems from pregnancy and complications in childbirth, over 50 times higher than the rate in the United States. Statistics and concerns such as these spurred the members of GALS to become involved with Save A Mother, which is a local organization that is working to reduce the maternal mortality rate in India by educating villagers regarding better ways to maintain good health while in pregnancy. Eventually, these educated villagers become health activists in each of their villages.

Hoping to learn more about this organization, GALS held a special event at the Center for Gender Studies on January 10th. Dr. Shiban Ganju, founder and chief volunteer of Save A Mother, visited the university in order to talk further about the organization’s work and to inspire the group to further the organization’s cause.

Dr. Ganju: Just do it

Throughout the upcoming quarter, GALS is going to work on strengthening its relationship with Save A Mother and continue furthering the organization’s cause.

“Ignorance kills even the best of ideas,” says Cunningham. “We are hoping to raise awareness about important issues and even if the students we talk to don’t get involved, it is still a better world because we opened their eyes a little more.”

Read the original article here

We expanded to two new districts with the help of local NGOs, who wanted to add a health care component to their existing activities. 49 women attended the 3-day induction training in Chikballapur district of Karnataka and 31 women attended the induction training in Mijwan in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. We are closely monitoring the progress in the new districts to validate the applicability of our program.

As of the end of February 2010, our activists are working in more than 700 villages in five districts of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. We plan to expand our work to more villages of these districts and consolidate our work for the rest of 2010.

• Ten one-day refresher trainings were conducted in eight blocks of Uttar Pradesh during December ’09. A total of 83 Swasthya Sakhis (Health Activists) received the refresher trainings.
• We conducted a three-day induction training of Swasthya Sakhis in Rahi block. 21 Swasthya Sakhis were trained and 15 other local women attended the training.
• We trained nine volunteer Master Trainers from Karnataka. We will officially be starting our work in Karnataka on 26th January, 2010 by introducing our program in Chikballapur district.
• Dr Satish Khera, professor of maxillofacial surgery in the U.S., attended our training sessions in Uttar Pradesh. We hope to start an oral health program in the region with his support very soon

Photo taken by Save A Mother staff at Lal Ganji.

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Solutions from Tsunami-hit Tamil Nadu. Click on the link below to find a heartwarming article about the transformation that has taken place in parts of Tamil Nadu that were hit hard by the tsunami. It shows how donation, global aid, and local government efforts can come together and not only successfully reconstruct devastated regions but also create long-term social transformation. Read on… Contributed by Hemant Kashyap

An Invisible Revolution in Rural India. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are a transformational phenomenon that has swept rural India over the last decade and a half. In a country where almost two-thirds of the population have no access to formal financial services, SHGs are a unique route to financial inclusion, increasing incomes, and building productive assets among the poor. Click on the link below to learn more about SHGs and the turning point of the SHG movement in early 1990 when the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) in India pilot tested the SHG-Bank Linkage Program. Today more than 400 women join a SHG every hour in India! Contributed by Ravi Grover

As the unimaginable devastation of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in decades unfolds before us, one is reminded of the deadly tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people across Asia only five years ago. Aid agencies from across the world and common people came together in the aftermath of the tsunami tragedy to pull together a massive, hugely successful relief effort that rebuilt and refashioned devastated homes, villages, cities, and economies. That aid work was largely possible because of the generous donations of people like you and I.

I encourage all our readers to help the Haitian people by supporting one of the humanitarian aid organizations doing outstanding relief work in Haiti right now, such as Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, and others. Let us come together in this New Year and together make a difference.

Please join Save A Mother in our Hope for Haiti benefit at Dream Lounge Friday, March 19th, 2010.

We crossed our target of training 400 new health activists in 2009 by November. December trainees will be an added bonus. Over 1,000 women have attended training sessions in 2009 and 412 have been designated as health activists. We have loftier targets for 2010.

We have expanded to a new district. Our team of trainers went to Babina, Jhansi and trained over 20 women. We are attempting to replicate our program there. We will also launch our program in Azamgarh on 6th January, 2010. Starting this month we are for the first time expanding our work to another state, Karnataka. Our trainers will conduct their first training in Chikbalapur, Karnataka. Our training books are currently being translated into Kannada. Mr Kamalkar Hallambi, Ex-Director of the Rural Literacy Mission of Karnataka will lead this program.

We are evolving into a health literacy organization with maternal mortality as our entry point into a community. Recognizing our potential to promote health literacy, our program is getting noticed. The Ministry of Health has asked us to participate in a national health literacy program through a national health portal.  The Ministry of Health will own and manage the portal with private-public partnership. We have already started on this project and in the next few months we will see the launch of the national program to spread health literacy.

So, you read the newsletter, bought the T-shirt, and came to the fund-raiser… but you feel as if you could do so much more to help your charity of choice! I was in your shoes over two years ago, when the usual avenues of giving back to my community were simply not enough. That’s when I decided to create my own website so that I may be able to attract attention and funding, inspire similarly-minded individuals, and ultimately help a great cause. Starting a website can be a wonderful experience of self-discovery and personal growth, but as I learned very early on, you have to venture out of your comfort zone to really get what you want. Before you dive into your mission of saving the world through online activism, you should get familiar with the following rules:

1.  Terminology and Languages: Learn to understand both the terminology and programming languages (at least to some extent) so that you may be able to perform maintenance without seeking professional help. As a rule of thumb, you want to be comfortable with the use of HTML tags. Other languages that are common for start-up websites are CSS, PHP, and Java.
2. Hosting: Find hosting that best reflects your space needs and financial situation. A web host is a server where your website’s directories, files, graphics, etc. reside. Should you go with paid or free hosting? This depends largely on how media-rich you plan to make the site. Are you going to be including a lot of high-resolution images, videos, music? Remember, only get as much space as you know you need.
3. Site Name: Choose a specific name that reflects your purpose, or perhaps a name that has a special meaning to you. The goal here is to create a relevant and consistent message for your users, as well as to make your site easily indexable on the major search engines.
4. Organization: Use a seamless and intuitive layout with a clear indication of the main areas of your site. Generally, it’s important to include an About page and a Contact page, so that your users are not confused by your intentions or validity.

 The above tips are fairly simple to follow, but are guaranteed to save you the headache down the road. If you are ready to become an online activist through starting your own awareness site, take the time to learn and understand the necessary components of such an undertaking. Be patient and you will succeed!

Mariya Nikiforova is an SEM specialist with isoTree LLC, a search engine marketing and consulting firm. Mariya is passionate about non-profit work, and participates in her community through various organizations and activities, such as Habitat for Humanity, YMCA Adult Basic Literacy Education, and an awareness website she started 2 years ago, called PledgeForMoms.org. The website is tailored to encourage the online community to take part in raising awareness about maternal mortality, gender inequality, and the suffering of girls and women across the globe.

According to our plan for 2009, we had planned to pilot test our program in a new district to see if we can replicate our work and methods outside Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The plan is on schedule. We are expanding to a new district: Jhansi. Our staff will travel to Babina, Jhansi to train new health activists from 26th to 29th November. We have also received requests from other states to start our program there. We may do this in 2010 depending on our resources and experience in Babina, Jhansi. We are currently drawing up our plans for 2010, which we will publish in our January 2010 newsletter.

This fall’s major Save A Mother fundraising event was a Masquerade Ball held on Saturday, October 24th, at the InterContinental Hotel on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. The first of its kind for Save A Mother’s Chicago chapter in size and scale, the event exceeded its fundraising targets and attracted a noteworthy guest list. The evening featured a silent auction and a fashion show arranged by local fashion designer Poonam Kamdar, with proceeds from the sale of showcased creations going toward the charity. Vocalist Suchismita Das performed a colorful variety of Indian musical pieces, and the evening closed with the tunes of local DJ Sunny Singh.

The event helped further increase awareness on the issue of maternal mortality in high-risk areas in India, while raising sufficient funds to sponsor the training of hundreds of more health activists in Uttar Pradesh. The funds raised will help Save A Mother extend its work to new districts in Uttar Pradesh. The organization extends thanks to the evening’s generous corporate sponsors, including National Republic Bank, Acreete, RedBull, and Quality Inn and Banquets of Burr Ridge. We extend special thanks also to Dr. Abbasi, Ajay Goel, Patricia Dominguez, Tara-Shamo Swaminathan, Sudesh Khosla, Reena and David Reynolds, Desh and Mini Thakkar, Drs. Prema and Brij Malani, Sudesh Vohra, Anita Singh, Miguel Bautista, and Dr. Surander and Vijay Singhal for their generous donations to sponsor health activists in the field.

Save-A-Mother plans to continue the tradition of an annual fundraiser during the Diwali season, with the goal of using proceeds to not only intensify the fight against maternal mortality, but also to begin growing other organizational causes such as tuberculosis eradication.

Incredible Solutions From Around the World: Meet the outstanding winners of The New York Times’ Half the Sky contest. Read on to learn how it is truly possible for one individual to bring about desperately needed change and impact the lives and futures of so many.

• In September, we conducted four, three-day long trainings for new health activists. We trained 79 new activists in all
• We conducted eight refresher training courses for those already in the field
• We are now working in 459 villages and will reach our target of 600 villages by the end of December 2009

REPLICATION

• Our project manager visited Phoolpur in Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh to conduct a preliminary survey. The district does not have a larger NGO for us to piggy back on, as we are doing in Sultanpur district. But the district does have a well run girls school, so we will launch our Save A Mother program (health education, trainings, activism) in that school and see how far we can progress. This is a new district for us with a new twist
• Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh has a micro-credit NGO of moderate size. We will enter this new district by launching our program using that NGO’s support base

LINKAGE WITH ASHA

• Our project manager attended a master training program for training ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers (they are part of the Government of India’s National Rural Health Mission). The program was conducted by Shabhagi Kendra and PATH in Lucknow. This gives us a better understanding of the ASHA methodology and stronger links with ASHA workers in our area.

USA CHAPTERS

• We are launching a Los Angeles chapter on 7th November, 2009. The chapter will have a small function in Niravana Restaurant
• Our New York Chapter will have a gathering at Sundaram Tagore Gallery on 11th November, 2009. Our Board Chairperson, Ms. Shabana Azmi will attend
• Our Chicago chapter will have a fundraising event – a Masquerade Ball – on 24th October, 2009
• We are exploring chapters in Toronto, San Francisco, and Philadelphia

OTHER UPDATES

• Our Chairperson, Ms Shabana Azmi spoke at FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) in Delhi in September on health care and talked about Save A Mother’s work. A full transcript of her speech can be found here
• This is an amazing, inspirational story about what one person can do to bring about change to the lives of so many. And, that one person is only 16 years old!! Introducing Babar Ali…

Birth weight is affected by weight gain during pregnancy. Weight should be gained throughout pregnancy but is most critical in the second trimester. Even if overall weight gain is poor, birth weight is usually acceptable with appropriate second-trimester weight gain. Women who are underweight are advised to gain a total of 12.5-18 kg. This translates to 0.5 kg/wk in the second and third trimesters. Women of normal weight are advised to gain a total of 11.5-16 kg (25-35 lb), or 0.4 kg/wk, in the second and third trimesters. Women who are overweight or obese should limit their weight gain to 7-11.5 kg (15-25 lb), or 0.3 kg/wk, in the second and third trimesters. The demands of pregnancy necessitate additional dietary requirements. Obviously, additional caloric intake is required to support recommended weight gain. Because energy requirements in pregnancy are increased by 17% over the non-pregnant state, a woman of normal weight should consume an additional 300 calories a day of high nutrient density. Nutrient density reflects the amount of protein, vitamins, and minerals per 100 calories of food. Protein should comprise 20% of a normal pregnancy diet. Pregnant women should be aware that many animal sources of protein are very high in fat and might contribute to excessive weight gain; therefore, animal proteins should be taken sparingly. Fat should only comprise 30% of a normal pregnancy diet. Carbohydrates should comprise the remaining 50%. Total energy intake should vary by BMI, but the average recommendation is 2500 calories per day.

Several minerals and vitamins are of critical importance and dosages must be increased during pregnancy. These include Vitamin A, B-1, B-2, B-3, B-6, B12, C, D, E, K, folate, niacin, iron, phosphorous, calcium, and zinc. Folate is of particular importance. A well rounded diet should cover all dietary needs but a vitamin supplement is recommended.

In India, of particular interest is the vegetarian diet. Well-balanced vegetarian diets that include dairy products provide adequate energy and nutrient intake and do not require special supplementation. However, vegan diets may be deficient in vitamins D and B-12. It may also be extremely low in fat, making satisfaction of energy requirements a challenge. Pregnant women who follow vegan diets require supplemental vitamin D, and vitamin B-12. These women also have to pay careful attention to energy intake.

In lower socio-economic regions, there are several steps that are being taken and can be taken to combat poor maternal nutrition. Education is one of the most important components. Teaching women what foods need to be eaten as well as the proper quantity needed to be consumed. Also, providing food to women who do not have access to fresh food needs to be done. Also of critical importance is providing women with necessary supplements such as folate and iron.

Varun Renjen is a physician who has been in cancer research. He is now moving on to medical strategy. He is based in New York and is a Save A Mother volunteer.

Photo taken by Save A Mother staff.

Solution: From polio to HIV, cell phones are playing an important role in Zambia’s child health strategies. Check out this link to learn more.

 

One of our objectives in 2009 is to expand to another district. We conducted our first survey of Phoolpur in Uttar Pradesh to understand local need. Even though membership of the local NGO is not large, we will start a small pilot program. Our program manager Anoop Pant and I will visit the area to start the program at the end of November.

Anoop Pant will also attend a training program in Lucknow, conducted by PATH – an international NGO. Subsequently, he will become a master trainer for ASHA workers of the National Rural Health Mission. This will bring us even closer to the public health workers in our area, with whom we already have a working relationship. We will supplement the public health programs sponsored by the government.

Solution: Changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything. The empowerment of women could help solve many of the world’s problems, from poverty to child mortality to terrorism. Click on the link below to read how – contributed by Hemant Kashyap

Which got me to wonder why do we get involved? Usually, we can relate to the cause in some way, but, for me, as a lawyer, it’s because I can see the results. I believe that in tough times like this while each of us have a limited amount of capital to invest in the things that interest us, the organization or cause that shows tangible results will succeed more rapidly than the one based on good intentions or slick marketing.

I chose to get involved in the Save a Mother cause not just because of the passion of its founder and some members, but because of its budding use of social media. Before you snidely think “oh so because they are on Facebook/Twitter, you joined?,” let me clarify. To me, it represented several things that most well meaning organizations consistently fail to do.

Transparency: Anytime, anyone actively becomes part of a media that is built on communication, information, and community it is forward thinking and showing a willingness to be an actor in that world rather than just soliciting. Don’t get me wrong, creating a profile can be done by any 14 year old (case in point, my nieces), however participating, disseminating information, and laying it out for all to see shows great faith, trust, and confidence in what the organization stands for.

Viral Marketing: the greatest promise of social media is its ability to connect others with similar interests anywhere across the world. It is as, author Malcolm Gladwell stated, a great “flattener.” In a sense, social media marketing is about giving your fans a platform to talk about you in a positive way – something Facebook makes seamless. If a fan of your Facebook business page decides to comment on something you’ve posted, their friends will see that action in their news feed. If your fans mark a photo as something that they “like” then their friends will see that, likewise, if they sign up to attend an event by sending in their RSVP, it shows up for all of their friends to see. In this way, Facebook can make any content viral.

Participation: Any community is only as good as its communication. If you only talk about yourself, and do not interact with others, you are guaranteeing very few followers and worse, a push back into the closet mentality. Everyone can speak, but what’s important is what you are adding to the conversation. Using social media is an opportunity to grow, and that expansion can only happen if people like you, and want to hear from you. That occurs only when it’s a 2 way conversation. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then social media is not for you.

Examples: So you signed up, you are ready to make change happen in the world, but you are not exactly sure what to do. I have always believed that copying is the sincerest form of flattery, and my initial research took me to http://www.gauravonomics.com/ , a great resource on using social media to create social change in India.

Perhaps the best example that’s stuck with me was this: On April 14, 2009 actor Hugh Jackman pledged to give AUS $100,000 to the charity that could best convince him, via Twitter, that it was deserving of the award. On Friday, Jackman announced that, unable to decide, he had chosen two winners to split the prize: Operation of Hope, a medical foundation that donates surgical procedures to children in developing countries born with facial deformities, and Charity: Water, a non-profit dedicated to providing safe drinking water in developing countries. One of the winning tweets came from Charity: Water president and founder Scott Harrison, who tweeted a link to a photo of a group of Ethiopian children holding up a hand-made sign with the simple message “Dear Mr. Hugh Jackman, thank you for helping us!” Harrison added: “dear @realhughjackman — just snapped this near Eritrean border at a school of 1400 w/o clean water.” (courtesy of PBS.org).

And that is the power of Social Media.

Sanjay Sabarwal is a Save A Mother volunteer. He is also the General Counsel as well as co-owner of Ziba Beauty, a chain of brow lounges in Southern California that specializes in The Art of Threading ® and The Art of Mehndi.

100% of the proceeds from the event went towards training village health activists to reduce maternal mortality and improve health in rural Uttar Pradesh, in India.

Solution: In Africa and South Asia pregnancy and childbirth complications are still the leading cause of death for women. 85 percent of maternal mortality occurs in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Click on this link to learn more about the problems and solutions of maternal mortality in the developing world today – contributed by Shiban Ganju

The participants came from Sultanpur district and two other districts: Azamgarh and Jhansi. The syllabus included extensive interactive training pertinent to rural health. We hope that these participants will help in carrying out further training in their regions with minimal outside help. We will closely monitor the progress and take action to improve. They will also assist with our ongoing training program.

We also continue to train local women to be village health activists who educate and assist the villagers. In July 2009 we will conduct four training sessions at Bhadar, Gauriganj, Amava, and Singhpur Blocks in Uttar Pradesh. 15 to 20 participants will attend each training and the recently trained trainers will assist. 

We will continue to keep you informed of our progress through our newsletters.

Maternal mortality, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is “death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.” It is worth noting that 45 percent of these deaths occur within the first 24 hours of delivery. There is direct maternal death which is caused by complication of the pregnancy, delivery, or the management of the birth. Indirect maternal death is pregnancy related death caused by a pre-existing or new medical condition. Some of the major causes of maternal death are bacterial infections, gestational hypertension (pre-eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome), obstetrical hemorrhage, ectopic pregnancy, amniotic fluid embolism, and complications of unsafe abortions. In the developing world, 20 in 100,000 births lead to maternal mortality. It is 400 in 100,000 worldwide and 440 in 100,000 in the developing world. The Maternal Mortality Rate has decreased from 520 to 308 per 100,000 live births in India over the last 40 years. However, many regions of India still maintain a mortality rate of over 500/100,000 such as Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, where Save-A-Mother works. This breaks down to 160 women in India a day dying giving birth. This is very high, even in relation to other developing countries, including nearby Sri Lanka that has a rate of 58/100,000. China has a rate of 46/100,000 births and a developed country such as the USA has a rate of 8.9/100,000 births.

While these are the main causes of maternal mortality; unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable, and poor quality of care also are major causes of many preventable cases. This is generally from lack of nearby medical care and poor nutrition. These include malnutrition, anemia, infection, sepsis, lack of immunization, excessive bleeding, and difficult labor. Every pound less a child is born than the average doubles the risk of complications. This is precisely the case in Uttar Pradesh. This is where Save-A-Mother comes in. The project, in conjunction with local NGOs, is committed to the education of mothers about pregnancy, nutrition, immunization, delivery, and care of the child through trained health activists. Human care is a fundamental right and through education we believe that society will demand proper care. By starting off on a small scale, the plan is to educate and track maternal progress on an individual basis to ensure maternal safety. The health and safety of children will be followed as well. This data will be collected on a village by village basis to measure progress. This will start off with 190 trained health activists in 150 villages. By the end of 2009, the plan is to have more than 400 volunteers educating about sanitation, infectious disease, AIDS, adolescent health, and reproductive health. Ultimately, the hope is through this methodology as well as fresh innovative ideas that come through over time to expand the program through other villages and states in India to other parts of the world.

Ultimately, success will be measured by a few different avenues. Obviously, a decrease in maternal mortality is tantamount. However, we want a maximal number of mothers to register and be educated through us. As they have more success in child delivery; through word of mouth more mothers join the program and reap the benefits of education. Awareness, education, nutrition, and access to healthcare as well as to institutional delivery are fundamental to the project. Mothers will become accustomed to and demand the newer ways of maternal health as it becomes the norm. The measure of success will not take months but years. But through constant hard work, collaboration, and innovation we know it is possible. We are looking to achieve a 50 percent reduction of mother mortality in 5 years in our pilot project area. The plan is to then expand this to replicate this model in 2 more districts in 2 years and then to parts of India where maternal mortality is higher than average for India.

There are several ways one can help. We are a purely volunteer organization so there is no overhead. One can donate some time, effort, keep others informed, and educate others about maternal mortality. Donations are also welcome. Merely 7 dollars a month will help us develop a master training facility where we can educate health workers to go out to the villages and to pass on the knowledge to help prevent maternal mortality. All donations are tax deductible.

Every woman has a right to go through pregnancy and child birth without the danger of disability and death… Through some simple changes and education we know this is possible. We want to give every mother the safety and facilities to minimize suffering and death associated with the child bearing experience. In turn, we ensure that their children have a mother’s love in life. Many children die before the age of 2 when a case of maternal mortality strikes. No child deserves a life without a mother. Together we can help ensure more mothers survive and are able to have a rich life filled with mutual love with their children. It will take a change in attitudes, hard work, and a little luck to ensure success. With the undying human spirit, anything is possible. So much has already been done over the years of humanity to prevent maternal mortality and now we want to further that progress to every corner of the world. Welcome to Save-A-Mother.

Photo taken by Save-A-Mother staff.

Solution 1: Click on this link to read about the internationally renowned Ela Bhatt and her Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), an empire for poor working women in Ahmedabad, India created using a Gandhian approach – contributed by Rima Shah

Solution 2: Read about a successful micro-planning initiative in Thane District of Maharashtra, implemented by Population First, an NGO working on population and health issues within the framework of women’s rights and social development – contributed by Ashvini Bommakanty

While a number of South Asians actively engage in philanthropy a large segment of the community hesitate to donate to charity fearing how their money will be spent. Will corruption misappropriate the funds into the hands of people that don’t need help? Will it go to pay the salaries of staff employed by the non-profit or will it be used for necessary services? While these are valid concerns, the answers to these questions can be found with just a few minutes of research. What needs to be emphasized is that there are a large number of non-profits engaging in positive and necessary work. These organizations are run by dedicated people who have the sincere intent of helping out those in need.

With a little investigation, people can verify how donated funds are being spent. Organizations like Charity Navigator and American Institute of Philanthropy track and investigate how wisely charities use and spend their contributions.   Through Charity Navigator one can plug in the name of an organization and see a pie chart breakdown of how funds are being spent on services to those in need vs. administrative costs and fundraising expenses. Also included is a 4 star rating system to let people know how efficiently charities perform. The amount of revenue the charity brings in is documented for the public to see along with how much is spent on overhead costs and what’s allocated for services. For those non-profits not yet listed on sites like Charity Navigator, the potential donor can spend a few minutes researching an organization online. It helps to research whether these organizations have won national or international awards for their work, have had news stories written about their success, or citing other credible sources that track charity work. With this transparency a reluctant person who’s unsure about contributing their time or money can decide which non-profit is most capable of putting their donation to use.

Save-A-Mother (SAM) is one such organization with low administrative costs. Funding has been used strictly to train several hundred local health activists in Uttar Pradesh. These women monitor and educate expecting mothers to prevent pregnancy complications. Health activists also encourage mothers to seek health care from local medical facilities to ensure safety for both the mother and child. All other administrative needs are taken care of by volunteers of chapters in various cities.

Outreach efforts for SAM have helped increase its membership and made the organization more visible. Online social networks like Facebook and Linked-in have proved to be valuable tools in raising awareness about SAM’s life-saving work. A recent wine tasting event hosted by Master Sommelier, Alpana Singh, and sponsored by Chicago based non-profit Ekya also helped raise funds for SAM. Coming up on May 2nd, SAM will be hosting an annual fundraising event at Mars Gallery in Chicago (see back for more details).

SAM’s progress to reduce maternal mortality will be largely successful as more and more members of the South Asian community discover the importance of philanthropy and giving back.

As support grows, Save-A-Mother expects to expand its program on a larger scale by training even more health activists, increasing its reach by working in additional villages, and raising even greater awareness of reducing maternal and infant mortality.

Photo taken by Save-A-Mother staff.

Solution 1: The Pancham Mahila Vikas Sangathan along with various healthcare and philanthropic organizations collaborated together to bring efficient healthcare services to the women of Kutch, Gujarat. A survey conducted by the Sangathan showed that various health issues had proven to be problematic and detrimental to the women living in the area. This was largely due to the lack of government and private healthcare facilities; therefore, a new system had to be developed to attend to these health issues. As a first step, nurses were sent to the impoverished areas on behalf of the Sangathan in order to perform physical exams and provide basic medical education to the women. Click on this link to read more about how the Sangathan molded itself into successfully delivering healthcare to the women of Kutch.

Solution 2: For a population of over 8 million, Tehran offers exemplary primary health care and sanitation, with vaccination rates at 100%, close to universal access to clean water, and 80% of pregnant women examined three times during their pregnancy. The Women Health Volunteers (WHV) program is an integral part of Iran’s primary health care plan. It includes a network of 100,000 women who help the government with health and hygiene in urban areas like Tehran. Women volunteers are trained in the program’s health centers and then sent out to educate their families and neighbors. Click on this link to learn more about this path-breaking program whose chief architect, Dr. Hossein Malek-Afzali, won the U.N. Population Award in 2007.

• Trained 32 new women health activists from different villages
• Conducted three refresher training courses for activists who have been trained in the past
• Signed a collaboration agreement with the International Institute of Health Management Research, Delhi, to train 40 block level trainers who will conduct trainings for village activists in their locations. This is an effort to scale up the program

Please visit Save-A-Mother Volunteer page to find out how you can get involved today!

 

Photo taken by Save A Mother staff.