News From the Ground – Dr. Ganju Reports (November 2009)

Posted on November 29, 2009 by admin in Field Updates, Global News

In the month of October we trained 82 new health activists (Swasthya Sakhis) in Uttar Pradesh from Sangrampur, Unchahar, Sareni and Bhetua blocks. We also conducted six refresher training courses for 99 activists already working in the field in Salon, Jagatpur, Musafirkhana, Baldirai, Bhafiya, and Gauriganj blocks. In the month of November we plan to train new activists from Jagdishpur and Dubey blocks besides conducting six refresher training sessions for old activists.

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.

Doctor Ganju, india, maternal mortality, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, Volunteering

LSNP Group & Save A Mother – Annual Charity Walk by Ashvini Bommakanty

Posted on November 12, 2009 by admin in Events

A small San Diego based puja group sponsored Save A Mother for their recent Annual Fundraising 5k Walk, which took place at Torrey Pines State Reserve. This group was started in 2001 by four ladies, Uma Bommakanty, Annapurna Yenamandra, Prabha Pyati, and Anasuya Peesapati. They meet on a monthly basis to recite the lalitha sahasranam to goddess Lalita Devi, a Divine mother who is also symbolized as feminine power, Shakti. Their organization is named LSNP (Lalita Sahasra Nama Pathanam). This year they introduced an annual charity walk in addition to their monthly pujas as a way to encourage team building, well being, and support for charity organizations. They chose to contribute to Save A Mother for their very first walk because it’s an organization that values the life of a mother

annual charity walk, Events, philanthropy, san diego, saveamother.org, Volunteering

News From the Ground – Dr. Ganju Reports (October 2009)

Posted on October 15, 2009 by admin in Field Updates

TRAINING 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 [...]

Doctor Ganju, ground work, india, maternal mortality, news from the ground, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, uttar pradesh, Volunteering

Maternal Nutritional Needs – by Varun Renjen

Posted on October 15, 2009 by admin in Global News

There are nearly 30 million low birth weight babies born annually. These babies often face severe short- and long-term health consequences. Low birth weight is a major factor of mortality, morbidity and disability in infancy and childhood. This also has a long-term impact on health outcomes in adult life. The consequences of poor nutritional status and inadequate nutritional intake for women during pregnancy not only directly affects women’s health status, but also has a negative impact on birth weight and early development. Low birth weight also results in substantial costs to the health sector and imposes a significant burden on society as a whole. Whereas the global prevalence of such births is slowly dropping, it is as high as 30% in many developing countries.

maternal mortality, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, sultanpur, uttar pradesh, Volunteering

News From the Ground – Dr. Ganju Reports (September 2009)

Posted on September 15, 2009 by admin in Field Updates, Global News

Our training program has had one positive effect. In the beginning of this program, about 18 months back, we encountered some difficulty in motivating even one volunteer to attend our training session. But that has changed. Now, many more volunteers than we reach out to show up for our trainings. And we train them all, [...]

Doctor Ganju, ground work, india, maternal mortality, news from the ground, philanthropy, save a mother, saveamother.org, sultanpur, uttar pradesh, Volunteering

Save-A-Mother’s 2nd Annual Fundraiser a Success!

Posted on July 15, 2009 by admin in Events

Save-A-Mother held its second annual fundraiser on May 2nd, 2009 at the Mars Gallery in Chicago. The event included live music performances, a comedy showcase, and food and drinks. Thank you to all those who came out to support our cause and to the event sponsors and volunteers. 100% of the proceeds from the event [...]

ground work, india, maternal mortality, news from the ground, save a mother, saveamother.org, Volunteering