Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women. – Michelle Obama
With this motto in our heart, we, the Deusa Foundation, sponsored and launched PROJECT YUVATI, a free general health check-up camp for women/adolescent girls along with the distribution of sanitary napkins, iron tablets, and surgical masks to 40 women at Khanamukh Gaon, Jalukbari, Guwahati, Assam on August 7th, 2021, in collaboration with Rotaract Club Of the Caduceus, Mumbai an NGO with Medical Students and Doctors too, who are ready to take up the greater cause of what they are training for - to serve the people.
Our nation is one of the few countries in the world where women and men have nearly the same life expectancy at birth. The fact that the typical female advantage in life expectancy is not seen in India suggests there are systematic problems with women’s health. Indian women have high mortality rates, particularly during childhood and in their reproductive years. Researchers stated that the health and nutritional status of Indian women are becoming worse due to the prevailing culture and traditional practices in India. Indian women are generally vulnerable to poor nutrition, especially during pregnancy and lactation.
Globally, about 800 women die every day of preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 20 per cent of these women are from India. Seven of the top ten causes of death in women in India are NCDs, led by heart attacks, stroke and respiratory diseases. India’s anaemia burden among women is widespread, with 53.1 per cent of non-pregnant women and 50.3 per cent of pregnant women being anaemic as per the NFHS-4 in 2016, where India carries the highest burden of anaemia and no marked improvement has been noticed in the magnitude of anaemia despite having various programmes and policies for the past 51 years, since the launch of National Nutritional Anaemia Prophylaxis Programme in 1970 to recent government initiatives like Anemia Mukt Bharat Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS), National Iron Plus Initiative (NIP), etcetera. This highlights the need to tackle this situation in a more effective fashion.
Mere distribution of the iron pills and sanitary napkins was not the main purpose of the awareness camp. With Deusa's expertise on Training and the knowledge of our Medical Students, a holistic approach was prepared by Deusa, to specifically emphasise on community awareness about consequences of anemia and other health hazards along with the benefits of iron folic acid supplementation from locally available vegetables, and food sources. It was very encouraging to see even Men, come-up and be a part of the camp because this shows that they want to know and are welcoming to help. We took this as an opportunity and the to be doctors did check everyone present and also educated about getting themselves vaccinated against COVID, along with practicing the present standard operating procedures.
The aim and mission of our organisation is all about bridging the gap and to make our youth not just job ready but “Future Ready” too and making India Aatmanirbhar, because empowering the youth is the most effective mean that society possesses for confronting the challenges of the present and the future. Our keys to empowering youth is by providing employable skills, experiential learning environment by giving easy access to tools and materials as well as professional support and also by ensuring socio-linguistic equality and providing inclusive quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. Hence, by empowering the youth, we will be able to build a strong Indian economy of tomorrow.
And last but not the least, thank you to Dr. Subham Kashyap, to agreeing to be available on call at the last moment. Sri Nilutpal and Team, you guys have chosen to be the change rather than waiting for change happen. This is just the beginning of our journey, at Deusa, we have miles to go reaching out, bridging gaps and looking down only to pull one up.
Let's continue being the CHANGE that we want to see.
