Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission

Email Address

info@missionvivekananda.org.in

Phone Number

+91 8589991227

Our Location

Agali ,Palakkad-678581

Donate Now
Menu
Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Linkedin

Community Maternity Care Program

The Community Maternity Care Program which was started in the year 2022, with the support of Azim Premji Foundation, aims to significantly reduce the infant mortality rates into single digits (less than 10 per 1000 live births) in the Attappady region. Infant mortality rates in this area are higher than the state average. The program provides comprehensive-community based maternity care to tribal expecting mothers ensuring support throughout all stages of pregnancy from conception to post-delivery. This is done by a team of community nurses and social workers. 

Scale of activity – The program covers all the pregnant mothers in  150 tribal hamlets of Attappady. Each panchayat is assigned a team of two community nurses and one social worker and they meet with pregnant mothers at least six times throughout their pregnancy journey.

Our Approach

The program is built on a four-pronged strategy at the community level:

  • Identifying early: The pregnant women from different hamlets are identified or notified by existing health volunteers and other community networks. The women are encouraged to register at a health facility either SVMM or government hospital or any other institution.
  • Follow-up and monitor at door-step: The community nurses conduct regular home visits to monitor the health of pregnant mothers, providing community-based services that include tracking weight, height, blood sugar, blood pressure, hemoglobin levels, and other critical indicators. For any urgent cases, nurses ensure accompanied referrals to medical facilities, while coordinating closely with government frontline health workers.  
  • Following-Up: During home visits, the community nurses and social workers also ensure treatment compliance and encourage antenatal visits to healthcare facilities, thereby maintaining continuity of care throughout pregnancy. A community dietician visits high risk pregnant mothers and develops a diet plan and encourages them to stick to the diet plan. 
  • Educating & Counseling: The social workers provide one-to-one counseling sessions on a wide variety of topics relating to maternal health, nutrition and family support to pregnant women and their family members. General village awareness sessions are also conducted to raise public awareness.

Key activities and scale of operations (Nov-2022 to Oct-2024).

  • 800+ pregnant mothers covered under the project and provided with community based services 
  • 410 high-risk pregnancy cases identified and provided with additional services and intensive follow-up.
  • 330 trainings for public health workers
  • 25 awareness classes for various target groups, including adolescents, villagers, SHG members, and ooru samiti members and covered more than 550 individuals.

The overall goal of the project is reduction of infant mortality levels to less than 10 per 1000 live births. Some short term outcomes of the project are: 

  • The project enabled proactive village-level interventions for at least 10 high-risk and critical cases, ensuring timely care that would have otherwise resulted in neonatal or infant death. 
  • The overall infant mortality rate (IMR) has slightly decreased to 18-19 per 1000 live births in 2023. We believe this project has played a significant role in supporting the efforts of the government staff and contributing to the improvement in these infant mortality indicators.