Joining Hands with Community

Problem Statement

Low institutional delivery is a key concern of the State of Nagaland, with NFHS-4 reporting 33% institutional delivery. The available infrastructure at the SubCentreis not conducive forconducting delivery at the facilitiesdue to lack of functional labour room, unavailability of trained HR, community faith in home delivery and poor transportation facilities in the rough terrain.

Programme Description

Village leaders and other influential individuals were oriented on community participation as a mechanism to improve health outcomes through Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs). Village Health Committees (VHCs) took charge of upgradation of existing sub centers into HWCs. These committees ensure funding transparency and construction/upgradation of existing Sub-Centers. VHCs also contributed to the construction of a community kitchen adjacent to HWC for the use of family members. This effort has benefitted 82727 populations in the catchment areas of these 49 HWC-SHCs facilities.

Programme Outcomes

VHCs were involved in monitoring of construction of wellness rooms at HWCs. Most of upgradation work has been completed with full transparency, as many local priests/other influential individuals in the village are members of these health committees. Further, village councils serve as a monitoring body in carrying out any development in the village. 49 HWCSHCs have an adjacent community kitchen constructed through community support and in 19 HWC-SHCs out of  49 operationalized HWC-SHCs, CHOs have started conducting institutional delivery. Patientsare using the community kitchen for boiling water, cooking food, etc. This has helped in promotion of institutional deliveries in the HWC-SHCs. This initiative helps in strengthening the Communitisation Act and to create more community ownership for ensuring health services.

Scalability

State will propose this initiative under NHM PIP to scale-up across the state.

Implementation Partners

USAID-MCSP/Jhpiego

Financial Implications

Funds were provided under NHM. 

Source : We Care Coffee Table Book - Good, Replicable and Innovative Practices 2019