Neonatal Care in India: Raising a generation by raising awareness

Every seven minutes, a woman in India dies due to pregnancy-related complications. Over a million babies born in the country die within their first month of life. India has the unfortunate distinction of claiming more than a quarter of the total newborn deaths in the world. The majority of these deaths occur in rural areas where poverty and lack of knowledge about proper maternal and child health care are the real cause of these fatalities.

The Indian government has come up with schemes such as the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the soon-to-be-launched National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) to address this dire situation. Both schemes give high priority to the issue of maternal and newborn health for marginalized communities, and seek to improve the availability of and access to quality health care for those at the lowest rung of the socio-economic ladder. Additionally, government programs such as the Janani Suraksha Yojana incentivize delivery in hospitals by encouraging mothers to opt for institutional deliveries.

While the government’s efforts are commendable, the complication arises in that people must first be aware of the problem before they can take advantage of the government services addressing it. And unfortunately, in many Indian households, where the basics of survival take center stage, the health of mothers and their newborns is not given much importance.

Effective development communication programs can play a pivotal role in bridging these knowledge gaps by identifying barriers to behavior change, analyzing these barriers, and developing original techniques to overcome them.

For instance, in Assam, a collaboration between the Indian government, UNICEF, and local bodies is using a boat called Akha

to reach underprivileged indigenous tribes that inhabit geographically isolated sandbars and islands called chaporis. The chapori residents, who live near the lifeline of Assam—the Brahmaputra river, are often cut off from accessing health care facilities due to floods and other natural hazards. What’s more, awareness about maternal and child health care is all but drowned out by the other concerns for survival that face this group.

The Akha, which comes equipped with medical staff and communications materials, makes visits to these isolated regions with the mission to regularly provide facilities for maternal and child health as well as promote awareness about health-seeking behaviors. Findings suggest that the service delivery undertaken by the boat, which has been continually expanding over the last few years, has dramatically improved thousands of lives. 71 percent of the chapori mothers sought some form of antenatal care during their last pregnancy; of these, 42 percent sought care from the Akha.

This is one example of how an intervention tailored to the specific needs of a community can raise awareness and create tangible change.

Another example is the work done by a project called Sure Start—an initiative based at PATH, an international not-for-profit organization supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is working with rural communities in Uttar Pradesh and settlements of marginalized people in Maharashtra to help mothers and their children to survive and stay healthy.

The project’s communications program is innovative in its efforts to raise awareness and interest about maternal and child health care issues. In villages, for example, the “letter from an unborn child” campaign reached out to 40,000 fathers-to-be, educating them about the importance of taking care of their wives during pregnancy. In both Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the program uses interactive and entertaining tools including dance, music, theater, and games to create awareness.

Mr. Nirbhay Singh, the elected head of one of the villages in Uttar Pradesh where Sure Start operates, estimates that since the program began in his village in 2008, 70 to 75 percent of adults in the community have become aware of safe delivery practices and the vital importance of ensuring access to maternal and child health services. One result is that payments under the government’s Janani Suraksha Yojana (a scheme that incentivizes institutional delivery) have increased alongside the growing awareness about the health benefits of giving birth in hospitals.

In this way, projects such as these use customized communication techniques to raise awareness of maternal and newborn health issues, thus helping local communities benefit fully from existing government schemes. It has often been said that knowledge is power, and the projects mentioned above give that power back to the communities they work in.

The Joys Of Raising A Toddler

Oh yes, you read it right! It’s pure joy to raise a toddler. You have probably read so many articles regarding how hard this stage is, but for the most part, it’s also the stage when our cute darlings learn the simplest yet most beautiful things. Of course, it comes hand in hand with how you establish loving authority over them. A toddler would always want to explore and thus assert his newfound autonomy. At this time, parents usually brace themselves for their beloved toddler’s favorite word which is NO. For first time moms, it might come as a challenge when the day comes when you are so used to having your way with your baby and alas, you realize that your baby is now bidding for more independence. For even the usual feeding session can turn out into something else. Before you know it, you become like a salesperson convincing your child that it is about time to start eating. A simple NO would actually make them feel that they have already gained some control, and they love being in control.

Erik Erikson , a popular developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, came up with eight stages of development that a human being goes through from birth to death. According to his theory, the toddler’s autonomous behavior is a way of forming their own identity away from their caregivers. It is at this time that they realize that they are their own individuals, separate from their primary caregivers. This is the best time then to offer them choices, instead of asking them whether they want something or not. By doing so, your child is able to get the autonomy that he needs and you can trust him to keep his end of the bargain.

There is no step by step guide on how to properly raise a toddler. The best guidance is unconditional love. It is also important to accept that parents are not at all perfect and nobody is ever going to raise perfect children. So, it’s really not a problem if we say sorry to our child for things we might have overlooked. This in turn, would encourage them to say sorry as well. At times when they throw tantrums and you feel that everything is in chaos, it makes a difference if you stop, breathe and think. Giving too much attention on their bad practices only fuels them to do it some more. They are attention seeking individuals and they love the attention they are getting in whatever way they can. So it is the best time to lavish them with love, attention and understanding at the proper time. They have a long way to go and as parents they count on us to lead them the way. In spite of our shortcomings as parents, we are the best parents in our child’s eyes.

So the next time they throw a fight, take time and let your heart decide. This may be a difficult time for both of you but it’s also the time that they become adorably sweet and loving. The best part of raising a toddler is that they learn to reciprocate love. And that for me, is more than enough to explain why I love this stage.

Child Tax Credit Return

Article by Kashif Chohan

The Child Tax Credit can be important for parents as they try to save money for school supplies and other essential items. The tax credit can particularly come in handy when you are a single mother or father. When filing a U.S. Tax Return, it can be helpful to itemize some of the expenses that it takes to raise a child as proof that you are indeed able to claim the child as a dependent.

There are some basic rules that are tied to the Child Tax Credit. Your child has to be under seventeen years of age. If they happen to be disabled and over the age of seventeen then you are dealing with an entirely different set of rules; it is a good idea to speak to your CPA about this. Your tax bill can be lessened greatly, depending upon how many children under the age of seventeen you may have. Some parents have been able to reduce their tax bill by one thousand dollars for each child they happen to be claiming as a dependent. You can also claim children that you have adopted of course as well. The child does not have to be a birth child, a CPA will tell you that you can claim children who have been awarded to you in a legal proceeding.

A child must have lived with you for over half of a calendar year in order for you to be able to claim the child. The child has to either be a U.S. citizen or at least a U.S. national with a valid Social Security number. If for some reason the child does not have a Social Security number yet, you will not be able to claim them on your Tax Return until they get one.

A Certified Public Accountant should be able to explain to you what exactly this would do to your federal tax return. You need to make sure that you are applying the credit to an accurate number of children if you happen to be doing your own return and using your own Free Tax Return Calculator. The refund that you get does need to be accurate, it is for your own financial well being.

About the Author

Rama Tax Services offers a Free Tax Return Calculator for USA Citizens. Rama Tax is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and provides Tax Return Services and you can register for Online Tax Return form. Rama Tax Services Provide a cost effective services all over the United State. Did you know that thousands of United States citizens living abroad are eligible for refunds of thousands of dollars per year by filing United States tax returns? http://www.ramataxservices.com

No neglect of female child;

Preference for a male child:

Sons have traditionally been preferred over daughters in many parts of China, India and South Korea due to social, cultural and financial motivations.

As per recent census India has sex ratios as high as 125 in Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat in the north but normal sex ratios of 105 in the southern and eastern states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, in the recent census.

Why majority of the people are desperate to have a girl child:

Women are considered as a weaker sex .It is a surprise to see why this difference between a man and a woman still exists in any country that has witnessed much advancement in every field.

Desire for a male child with a belief, that he will become caretaker and a source of strength in the old age, demand for a heavy dowry, patriarchal structure of a society are considered as the main reasons for rejecting and eroding the value of a girl child.

In addition to female infanticide and female feticide, she is discriminated and deprived of the fundamental rights of education, freedom, empowerment, nutrition, to live a life with dignity and honor at every stage of life.

It is important to usher significant changes in societal attitude and perceptions with regard to women in every sphere. On one hand, we worshipped woman at par with god. On the other hand, she is made to suffer various kinds of atrocities like dowry deaths, sati, sexual abuse, domestic violence, female infanticide, and female feticide.

In the past, women were treated as mere house workers, expected to be bound to four walls of the house and managed only household chores.

But the reason, which tops the list, is dowry – a price paid by the parents to marry off their daughters.

Even after Independence, most families have craved for boys to continue the lineage, bring home the fodder and sustain livelihood for the family. Caste systems never allowed women to bend gender roles. The trouble lies with the interpretation of the ancient texts.

However, it is being misused on a large scale in India, as a result of the widespread preference of male child over a female child in the Indian society. Indian laws have been enacted to curb the practice of female feticide in India.

In 200 BC, Manu wrote, ‘In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent’. Since then women have struggled to maintain their lives leave alone have an identity for themselves. In rural areas where poverty is abject, women can barely nourish themselves, even though they comprise of 84% of the working population.

Reasons for having male child are many. To name a few: From carrying the family name forward to lighting the funeral pyre to hoping for a male breadwinner in the family.

Future problems:

Abortions of female fetuses have led to a massive surplus of young unmarried men in India and China, raising fears of an outcast group that could threaten the social fabric, a study says.

The trend took root in the 1980s when ultrasound technologies made it easier for families to detect fetal sex early and to abort if it was not what the parents desired, said the analysis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Sex-selective abortion is outlawed but can be difficult to enforce.

The phenomenon was first spotted in South Korea in the early 1990s, when the sex ratio at birth (SRB) – typically 105 male births to every 100 female births – rose to 125 in some cities.

Similar rises in male births were seen in China, complicated by the one-child policy, which has undoubtedly contributed to the steady increase from 106 in 1979, to 111 in 1990, 117 in 2001 and 121 in 2005.

In parts of China where a second child is allowed, after a daughter is the first born,  for the second is 143, suggesting that many choose to abort a second girl fetus in favor of trying again for a boy.

Estimates of China’s actual population difference in 2005 pointed to 1.1 million excess males, with men fewer than 20 exceeding the number of females by about 32 million.

These men will be unable to marry, in societies where marriage is regarded as virtually universal, and where social status and acceptance depend, in large part, on being married and creating a new family.

Because they may lack a stake in the existing social order, it is feared that they will become bound together in an outcast culture, turning to antisocial behavior and organized crime, thereby threatening societal stability and security.

Other concerns include the possibility that the surge of unmarried men will boost the sex industry, which has already expanded in India and China over the past 10 years.

However, the part played by a high sex ratio in this expansion is impossible to isolate; there is no evidence that numbers of sex workers are greater in areas with high sex ratios.

Despite the grim outlook for the generation of males entering their reproductive years over the next two decades, there are encouraging signs.

A crackdown on sex-selective abortion in South Korea has resulted in a more normalized male-to-female birth rate in recent years, and China and India are both down from their peak SRBs due in part to public awareness campaigns and relaxed one-child policies.

Advance information about birth of a female child.

With ever increasing consciousness towards small family norms, it becomes even more compelling for the couples to get the sex of their babies determined early in the pregnancy. If a couple already has a girl, it is more likely to opt for abortion, in case the test proves the foetus to be a female. According to reports, out of the foetuses that are aborted in India after sex determination, around 99 per cent are females

Various sex determination techniques like biopsy, sonograms, ultrasounds, scan tests and amniocenteses were introduced to detect foetal abnormalities. Unfortunately, these tests were used as a tool by number of families to detect the sex of the child that is yet to born.

In spite of all stringent laws framed to curb this undesirable practice of killing innocent girl, still this heinous crime continues unabated in a desire for a male child/heir. If this practice continues at this rampant rate, then that day will not far, when our mother earth will have no girl, no daughter, no woman to give birth, and ultimately, no life on earth.

Due to financial constraints, many couples prefer planned pregnancy. In such cases, the first prenatal visit actually happens prior to actual pregnancy, whether one is ready to go off the contraceptive pills and conceive a baby.

Realities:

Times have changed now. Like men, she could excel in every field. India has tremendous examples of woman who have risen from the ashes and done the country proud.

Female child is not a curse on the society. She is one of the most beautiful and precious gifts of god. She is the most beautiful creation on this earth. She carries within her the beginning and the end. Patience and tolerance are the two important virtues bestowed by god on the woman, helps her to face bravely the troubles of the society.

Facts about girl child:

Girls are not liabilities or burden, they are valuable assets.
She brings fortune not misery.
She is the creator not destroyer.
Girl child is the most precious gem, save her from any cataclysm.
After god, she has the potential to give birth to a new life.
Son is a son till he takes a wife but daughter remains daughter till the rest of her life.
Daughter is the knot that unites two families together.

Final conclusions:

Education is the basic human right that is vital to personal and societal development and well-being.
You educate a man, you educate a person, you educate a woman, and you educate a complete family.
Denial of education further aggravates the problem of a girl child. Education enables her to think wisely, to take rational decisions, to act swiftly, learn to respect, and develop civic sense, to judge independently and to be a good citizen.
The State Government had implemented a number of schemes to raise the social status of the girl child in the society.
Improving female literacy will increase women’s awareness towards their benefits and rights. Special campaigns for promoting girl child and women education should be encouraged at all levels.
This is high time every individual to stage a big, concerted, worldwide campaign against all forms of abortions, except on medical grounds, and must take all other religions along.
The hope for the country lies in giving equals opportunities to boys and girls. Educating a girl child in India: With government initiatives and NGOs the word is spreading- the need to educate both girls and boys.
In rural areas, nearly 65 % of women favor literacy to remove the gender bias. But avoid sending their girls to schools as they are vulnerable to male teachers! In urban areas, girls are deliberately not given proper education. In many south Indian states, the girls are studying and getting an opportunity to live.
With the current economic status in the country undergoing changes, there needs to be a sustained awareness of bringing up the girl child with more care and love. In states of Rajasthan and Gujarat child marriages are common. Barely ten year old girls are wedded and they become pregnant by the age of 16 years. Having become a mother in the age of innocence, it is against natural live process for a young girl.
Time and again girls have proved to be supportive of old parents and have nurtured their children into better adults.  This has happened in places where girls and boys are raised together without any gender bias.
Various programs stressing the importance of a healthy child are of paramount importance. Only this way will the country not be bracketed with China, Bangladesh and Pakistan where the incidences of empowering the girl child are nonexistent.
India needs to protect the girls like goddess because when they grow up they do bring Lakshmi (wealth), Saraswati (knowledge), Parvati (power). Being biologically stronger than men they are the future of the country.

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