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Initiative
Empowering Women
FOGSI disseminates health-related information to rural women
and also addresses their various health challenges. Sonal Shukla tracks
the initiatives made by this organisation
 While
the urban woman is lucky enough to have best of the maternity care facilities
at their doorstep, there are still thousands of women who have to travel hundreds
of miles to deliver their babies. They may even lose their babies due to lack
of adequate facilities. It is for these distressed women that The Federation
of Obstetric & Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) shine on as angels.
Aptly titled as 'Saving Lives', it is under this theme that the largest association
of gynaecologists in India is conducting a nation-wide campaign that will address
various women-related health issues- covering communities across the society.
The campaign was launched this year in January.
The Saving Lives Campaign
The 'Saving lives' campaign will chiefly concentrate on issues
of safe pregnancy and delivery, cervical and breast cancer and prevention of
parent-to-child transmission of HIV.
 "FOGSI
will adopt 200 villages with a population of over one lakh to arrange monthly
health check-up camps"
- Dr CN Purandare
President
FOGSI
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 "FOGSI
will be
conducting 100 CME programmes across India, to reduce the cervical cancer
burden of the nation"
- Dr PK Shah
Secretary General
FOGSI
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Maternal Mortality: Maternal mortality in India is
astronomically high at 307 per 1,00,000 live births. Around 300 women die everyday
due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. More than 90 per cent of maternal
deaths are preventable, 40 per cent of pregnant women have complications and
25 per cent need obstetric interventions for complications which are potentially
life threatening to mother and baby. FOGSI will highlight aspects of safe pregnancy
and delivery to strengthen the knowledge of obstetricians, by conducting over
60- CME programmes all over India. This will highlight the need for nutrition
in pregnancy, the need for medication and delivery management, among other related
topics.
Cervical cancer: Cervical cancer is a significant
global public health problem. It is the leading cause of death from cancer among
women in India, accounting for an estimated 1,32,000 new cases and 74,000 deaths
every year. Cervical cancer has a long pre-invasive phase of 10 to 12 years.
During this phase, various screening techniques like visual inspection, cytology
and colposcopy can detect precancerous lesions in cervix and its treatment can
control the proliferation of the disease. These facilities are not available
in rural areas and hence simpler measures of detection are necessary.
Explains Dr PK Shah, Secretary General, FOGSI, "FOGSI will be conducting
100 CME programmes across India to reduce the cervical cancer burden of the
nation. Awareness campaigns for early detection of breast cancer will also be
taken forward along with cancer cervix initiative. "
Parent-to-child transmission of HIV: With women accounting
for 39 per cent of new HIV infections, the campaign would focus on preventing
parent to child transmission. The focus for this campaign would be on the states
of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Manipur and Nagaland, which have
highest HIV prevalence rates in India.
"The most effective public health strategy to avert new infections in children
is prevention of mother to child transmission through antiretroviral prophylaxis
and safe infant feeding. These interventions can drastically reduce the risk
of infection to newborn and infants by up to 75 per cent," informs Dr Nozer
Sheriar, Deputy General Secretary, FOGSI.
FOGSI in collaboration with UNICEF-NACO-AVNI will also address the gap in the
private sector. "We will have a public private partnership to initially
do deliveries in our member's private hospitals in the prevalent areas and expand
this module eventually to all over India. We have narrowed down on a complete
route from Nagaland till Chennai and we will cover 60 hospitals to deliver HIV
patients," shares Dr Purandare. The required medication kits will be provided
to FOGSI doctors who will conduct the deliveries in these 60 hospitals.
The Process
Raveena Tandon at the Saving Girl Child Campaign |
FOGSI is a registered charitable organisation and accountable
as a charitable trust. Manned with 24,000 gynaecologists, 202 societies and
26 subject committees on different aspects of women health, this organisation
has been getting funding for its community projects through its partnerships
with GOI, pharma companies as well as industry houses. "We have partnered
with few socially-committed pharma companies who have been helping us in spreading
awareness among the masses as well as in generating infrastructure to set camps.
The local FOGSI team members are then transported to the camp sites," shares
Dr Shah.
Every new president has his/ her own expertise and ideas to take forward. "Now,
we have decided that the community-driven initiatives will be taken forward
by the new president for the next three years and will be run simultaneously
in all the 202 societies, as we understand that for the community project to
become successful it needs persistence and continuous efforts," says Dr
PK Shah, Secretary General, FOGSI.
Anaemia eradication and 'Save the Girl Child' are few of the community health
initiatives which the organisation intends to take forward irrespective of change
in president. The themes for the different projects are decided by taking into
account the consensus of the societies and subject committees. Inputs are taken
from the clinical meetings which take place on different women health issues
throughout the year.
Every president's responsibility is to generate funding for
the various initiatives taken up by the organisation. For the community-based
projects taken up by FOGSI, the organisation relies on the support and co-ordination
from its branches. These societies which are scattered in the 202 townships
across India, have been taking the community- based projects forward in their
vicinity.
| There are many significant initiatives taken up by
FOGSI.
EmOC: FOGSI took EmOC (Emergency Obstetric
Care Certification course) initiative - 2005. In order, to reduce maternal
mortality in rural India, the organisation has started EmOC course for
MBBS Government doctors working in First Referral Units. "MBBS doctors
working in FRUs are not qualified gynaecologists and are not able to handle
emergency cases of pregnancy," says Dr CN Purandare, President, FOGSI.
The lack of basic infrastructure like ambulance and blood facilities add
to the woe. Therefore, as a part of EmOC programme, FOGSI is working with
the funding from Government of India wherein the medical officers working
in FRUs will be deputed in FOGSI designated centres where they would work
for 16 weeks period. The FOGSI members under this training programme teach
them the nitty gritties of emergency obstetric care. This will include
training on how to do breach deliveries, caesarian sections etc. By the
end of 2009, FOGSI intends to finish off the target of setting up training
centres which will train more than 2,000 MBBS obstetricians working in
rural FRUs.
Yatras: In the last two years, FOGSI has
initiated educational 'Yatras' (journeys). First it started the Ganga
Yatra around the Ganga belt where the obstetric gynaecologists traveled
from village to village conducting educational programmes for women which
covered issues like cancer detection, safe pregnancy, anaemia eradication
and so on. "The year 2008 was dedicated to the theme 'save the girl
child' which was initiated by the immediate past President Dr Narendra
Malhotra," shares Dr Purandare.
This initiative will be given further impetus this
year with the help of pharma company Lupin. The Bharat Jagruti Yatra started
by FOGSI last year highlighted issues like maternal mortality, sex education,
sex determination, adolescent healthcare, and conducted haemoglobin estimation
camps in the process. The yatra was started from Kanyakumari with four
groups of gynaecologists -FOGSI members went on to cover all the four
corners of India and the yatra culminated in Delhi. Banners, video films
on different health issues, talks given by the gynaecologists themselves
were a part of the strategy to reach out to the masses. The local FOGSI
societies were responsible in bringing people to the yatra for which they
took help of the local media.
Adopting Villages: In continuation to Bharat
Jagruti Yatra last year, this year FOGSI is going one step forward, with
the 'Village Adoption Programme'. "The FOGSI Emcure Village Adoption
Programme which is a part of this year's 'Saving Lives' campaign has not
limited focus to a regional level but intends to cover the whole of India.
FOGSI members will go to the patient's doorsteps," shares Dr Purandare.
In this project, FOGSI will adopt 200 villages
with a population more than one lakh. Local FOGSI society members will
arrange a health check up camps in adopted villages once every month for
antenatal checkup, screening for cervical cancer clinically and by PAP
smear, breast cancer clinically and by mammography and other general awareness
programmes regarding anaemia and safe abortion. "Patients needing
hospital care will also be referred to the tertiary centre and treated
at minimal cost," says Dr Purandare. To deal with the complicated
pregnancy cases which can't be dealt with, FOGSI will be provide health
cards by which the patients will get priority treatment.
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Challenges & Vision Ahead
The indifference with the Government is the biggest challenge that FOGSI faces.
"With the advent of various people-oriented projects taken up by FOGSI,
we expect to have a continuous dialogue and help from the Government. However,
getting the appointments of the people concerned is itself a huge task,"
laments Dr Shah. FOGSI also expects to have more media support in generating
awareness among the masses. "How do we reach out to illiterate people about
the different health issues? We need help from not just the vernacular press
media but also electronic media," shares Dr Shah.
Despite all the existing challenges, the organisation is raring to go with its
plans to make women more empowered by disseminating information about different
women health-related issues.
sonal.shukla@expressindia.com
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