MAHAN TRUST

Counselor Program

Problem Background :
The Melghat tribal were very reluctant towards hospitalization, especially of severly malnourished children & hosptial deliveries. This was due to lack of proper & functional medical facilities (availability of doctors, staff, medicines, instruments etc.), superstitions & poor social economic condtions of tribal. 

MAHAN Intervention: 
MAHAN along with ‘KHOJ’ an another NGO started the Counselor program with a basic objective of strengthening the systems at government hospitals and patient mobilization for hospital care. The goal is to reduce child deaths and maternal deaths and improve the overall health of the Melghat tribal.
Local Korku youth trained on essential aspects are posted in 17 local govt. heath centers as watch dog mechanism. They ensure that staff are timely available, instruments are working, medicine are available, patients are not denied treatment, hygiene is maintained etc. They also act as bridge (or translator) between staff & patients. Their important role was to mobilize hospitalization of severely malnourished children & hospital deliveries.

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Impact:

Improvement in services in numbers of Govt. Hospitals : 17
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People benefitted >6,70,000
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Improvement in Hospitalization of severely malnourished children increased From 0.12% to >15%
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Statistically significant improvement in hospitalized severely malnourished children: P' value<0.001
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Increase in deliveries in hospital From 2% to >70% & P' value<0.001

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Policy Level Work :

PIL (Public Interest Litigation): Honorable Bombay High Court Order in favor of PIL filed by MAHAN- Details are as below​​