Report on Women’s health issues after researching from Public Health Centers.

Anemia in pregnancy is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a hemoglobin concentration below 11 g/dL(1) It continues to be a major health problem in many developing countries and is associated with increased rates of maternal and parental mortality, premature delivery, low birth weight, and other adverse outcomes.(2)
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has almost 40 beds in the maternity ward that can adjust 40 patients. “It may accommodate 40 patients altogether, but it becomes thoroughly overbearing for a limited number of doctors” according to a source. Right outside the main building a couple of female patients were asked how often they visit AIIMS for maternity problems. Though most of them believe in coming to hospitals, the elder child was mostly born by a ‘dai’ or a midwife.
More than half of the pregnant women in the world have hemoglobin levels indicative of anemia Although only 15% of pregnant women are anemic in developed countries,(3) the prevalence of anemia in developing countries is relatively high (33% to 75%). The most common cause of anemia in pregnancy worldwide is iron deficiency.(4) The predisposing factors include grand multiparty, low socio-economic status, malaria infestation, late booking, HIV infection, and inadequate child spacing – among others.
“Eighty % of the health services in Delhi are being provided in the private sector because the Government has not been able to provide public health services to all the people of Delhi,” Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president said to The Hindu on 14 sept 2006. But now, suddenly his attention seems to wander away to transportation, water supply and infrastructure for the current fiscal.(5) So the question is- is there anyone in the government to care about this vital situation for poor, pregnant, malnourished, anemic women?
Bhaukti Devi, who sat near an electricity board and continued to roast herself under the sun in the AIIMS, was under serious tension for her husband who was suffering from lung infection. As he lay flat under the shade, she spoke of how he is immediately rushed to the hospital when he feels unwell. But as far as her health is concerned, coming to the hospital was more a liability than a need. For her, a ‘jhulachap’ was more convenient and cheaper when in need of a cure.
Communities like UMANG (Uplifting Marriage Age, Nutrition, and Growth), found nine out of ten adolescent girls to be anemic and two out of three illiterate. These factors severely limit the life prospects of young women and also negatively influence the future of their children and families. An anemic or malnourished mother has a very high probability of giving birth to a low birth weight baby, the single biggest predictor of future malnutrition. And a mother’s level of education is correlated with all sorts of behaviors which can strongly influence whether her child will survive past his first five years. Adolescent anemia can be the start of a vicious cycle of poverty which is difficult to escape from.
However,UMANG is a project which provides iron supplementation to these girls, as well as a forum to discuss the issues they face in daily life related to health, education, and family in the absence of Public Health Centers in the rural districts.
The problem of anemia (due to malnutrition) in pregnant mothers is not just in rural districts. The problem of a hemoglobin deficiency is also prevalent in women who can afford any kind of treatment at any expense. However, they prefer the more expensive hospitals because of the quantity and quality of services provided. One only wishes to avail public health centers and public hospitals when it is not easy to pay a bigger price. According to Doc. Shah who works at the Max, “Most patients here prefer the quality and the expertise we provide. We do not just charge more because of being a brand, but because of the time, energy and patience each doctor puts into every patient, unlike government facilities.”
However much we may try to boast about the new technology and the greater set up of medical avenues in the health sector, there is always a rich and a poor demarcation. Most of India's billion-plus people struggle with a public health care system which is virtually nonexistent in villages(6). On the other hand, private health care is booming, and the country's state-of-the art hospitals and highly skilled doctors even attract patients from countries where health care costs are much higher. The challenge before India is to make such top quality care accessible for the majority of its people and to put such high quality services within reach of the poor.

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(1)World Health Organization (WHO). The prevalence of Anaemia in women: a tabulation of available information. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 1992. WHO/MCH/MSM/92.2.
(2)Mahomed K. Iron and folate supplementation in pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2) CD001135: World Health Organization Reproductive Health Library CD-ROM. 2004;7.
(3)World Health Organization (WHO). Prevention and Management of Severe Anaemia in Pregnancy: Report of a Technical Working Group. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 1993. WHO/FNE/MSM/93.5.
(4)Nyuke RB, Letsky EA. Etiology of anaemia in pregnancy in South Malawi. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:247–256.
(5) The Hindu, It will slow development: Harsh Vardhan, 26th March 2008
(6) Public Health Foundation of India, India Offers Both Best, Worst of Health Care ,Voice of America Press Releases and Documents , 3 May 2006, http://www.phfi.org/news/newsdetail.asp?id=74
Part of an assignment on Development Communication dIKSHA gROVER

THE NEWS FOIL: FROM YELLOW TO GOLDEN

(An Opinion on Media Propagation and Prejudice)
By- Diksha Grover

When the nature calls and what you have in your hand is a newspaper, you use it either for your education or for wiping. However, when Rakhi Sawant Showz on Zoom flash their way into supplements, you clearly know which paper will serve you with what. But if you are stung with an operation, you will have the blame game to play- “What can we do? This is what they write!” And ‘they’ on the other hand say “This is what sells!” Unfortunately this helps neither of the two. It is simply like a chocolate wrapped in the yellow foiled news and served to be eaten fresh and frozen!

Coming back to theories, when I see that the world is flat, I also see that it is not the same. And so, journalism too takes up various forms. To exemplify- The Indian media became ‘cultural’ when Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty, the media became ‘judgmental’ when it came to Hemraj or The Talwars, the media became ‘developmental’ during Tsumani etc. Here, my point is not what the media does, but how is does and what does it inject.

The time when one of the worst communal riots was raging in the Old city of Hyderabad, there was footage of the present MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi being taken to a secluded place by the Police and roughed up mercilessly with the MP screaming for help and writhing in excruciating pain. It was a deliberate decision not to telecast this footage. But hold on, maybe tehelka has a similar story for its latest issue- The story of Dr. Binayak Sen from Raipur, Chattisgarh. Sen, who has been languishing in jails since May 2007 after being repeatedly denied bail from courts all the way up to the Supreme Court on charges of aiding Maoist Terrorists. But here again, when both stories focus on denied democracy and fundamental rights, why does Price in the pit and the leopard who ate the man become bigger and broader issues? At this juncture should I favor commercialism or should I agree with the Arabs to curb satellite news television?

TOI,Ahmedabad was most enjoyable to read for the last couple of days. It was alleged to unnecessarily tune the connection between the newly appointed Police Commissioner and Dawood. And the paper’s SMS campaign took the so called action beyond the realm of straight, investigative journalism into unwarranted activism. Also, isn’t it surprising to see that Mayawati does not waste much time personally on the media. She does not give interviews, never attends too many press conferences. But her bureaucrats make sure that the media falls in line if they show signs of getting too critical of the state government or the chief minister. Though Lucknow has six major dailies coming out of there, with Amar Ujala also set to launch soon, the Hindustan Times too has almost bowed to government pressure. In both the cases what is media really doing? Though both the examples contradict the freedom of the Indian media, the role is still the same- to sell ads to the masses.

When Star Voice Of India becomes a part of “The breaking news” channel, there is only one thing to break- the television set. Apart from ‘covering’ competitions like these, there are soaps and comedy serials that are ‘covered’. Ethics of reality shows also take a front foot forward when a breaking news has to be broken. Bias toward infotainment? “No, well, still it’s selling!”

Diplomacy is a tradition in the Indian blood. In the last week, there has been speculation over an alleged ‘sting’ operation conducted by CNN-IBN to expose allegations of bribery in the run-up to the trust vote in Parliament. The Hoot had reported a conjecture that one reason the channel did not telecast the tapes is because Anil Ambani who held a stake in the parent company through one of his mutual funds had put pressure on the owners of Network 18. While Noam Chomsky again wins the argument here about the bewildered herd, the specialized class and the Agenda setters; my problem is if we are so capitalist, why behave like socialist in our approach? Ohhh…or maybe that is why we are the mixed economy, for it is a convenient lie and an inconvenient truth.

But it’s not like there are no solutions. And it’s not like these are problems. The problems are the perceptions. When words like ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ exist in the dictionary, I do not doubt that there should be reasons to apply them as well. Maybe a journalist’s stamp is always subjective in a story and can never be objective, but it does not mean that both the sides cannot be expressed. We study and get educated to become humans from species and not the other way around. Media’s activism lies not just in the photograph and in the pen but also in the mind. When the fourth pillar of the constitution is media, then why to play a bigger and better role in elitism? Why not in development and upliftment? Why does every news need to be bad in nature to be ‘good news’? It’s not like I’m talking revolutions and evolutions, to quote some examples- radio stations are trying to combat AIDS through commercial ads and programmes, stings are used to revisit some truths in the Radhabhai Chawl case, spreading awareness through literacy programmes an initiative taken by TOI etc . With power comes a great responsibility, with responsibility comes unity and with unity a nation tied together.

“I took the road less travelled by,
And that made all the difference…”
-Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken )



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Written for Communique 2008-2009