How Shanta Garg is making basic healthcare accessible to mothers and newborn babies in a Rajasthan village
Shanta Garg has been working as an ASHA worker in a village near Udaipur, Rajasthan, ensuring mothers and infants have access to nutrition and healthcare.
In India, quality healthcare has remained a privilege of the rich and the influential for many years now.
For a country with a population of over 1.2 billion people, there are only 0.7 doctors and 1.1 beds for every 1,000 citizens. This figure shows how inaccessible the healthcare system is in India.
While it has been a matter of concern, making basic healthcare accessible to those living on the margins is the need of the hour.
Shanta Garg along with her husband (Image: NDTV)
Bringing this change in Dulawato Ka Guda of Badgaon block, a village near Udaipur, Rajasthan, is Shanta Garg, an Accredited Social Health Activist or ASHA worker.
Shanta has been instrumental in giving a new lease of life for women and children in the village by providing a connect between the community and the public health system.
After receiving training, Shanta, a postgraduate, visits nearly 10 houses every day to educate the kids and their mothers through various activities. Speaking to NDTV, she said,
“We also use information education and communication (IEC) activities to educate the kids and mothers. We make use of IEC activities like games and stories, teaching them the importance of health, hygiene, and nutrition. They have proven to be very well received in our village.”
The session conducted for mothers and grandmothers begins with explaining the importance of nutrition in the first 1,000 days - when the baby is conceived - and includes breastfeeding the baby for the first six months.
Shanta explaining the benefit of healthcare (Image: NDTV)
Talking about the challenges she faced, she said,
“Earlier, due to lack of awareness, our village had the least number of pregnant women registering to avail the facilities provided under the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan. I found out that it was due to restrictions from their in-laws that they don’t come and register. That’s when I figured who I should be talking to. After forcing, convincing, and educating the mothers-in-law for years, they are now bringing their daughters-in-law to register with us and access the healthcare facilities,” reports NDTV.
According to Kanhiya Lal, Shanta’s village supervisor, at present, every child is receiving proper nutrition and vaccination. Also, mothers are well aware of what to eat during pregnancy and how to take care of their newborn babies.
According to Outlook, Shanta was recently recognised for her contribution and was awarded the Outlook Poshan Awards 2019.
That’s not all. Shanta’s work was also noticed by IPE, which is an Indian-International development consultancy conducting various training sessions with Anganwadis across India. She says,
“I’m happy with the progress I’ve been able to make in the last 12 years, and only wish to continue making a difference for the better in the coming years.”
(Edited by Megha Reddy)
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