KISHORI SHAKTI YOJNA

Bihar Voluntary Health Association, Patna with the support of Women Development Corporation, Patna has imparted training on Health, Hygiene and Sanitation under Kishori Shakti Yojna for the adolescents girls of Vaishali and Bhojpur district.

The Objective of this Training were as follows:

• To increase the knowledge and awareness level of the participants.
• To motivate participants to adopt healthy practices which will promote their health status.

The Target Group for this programmes were the trainees who were the selected adolescent girls between the age group 10-19 years from the Raghopur and Mahula Blocks of Vaishali district and the Garhani and Udwantnagr Blocks of Bojpur district. Approved number of trainees per batch was 40 and the duration of training was 3 days each.

BVHA has conducted 8 trainings under the KSY and covered 323 no. of adolescents girls. The topics which were covered during the 3 days training for each batch is mentioned below:

• Adolescence, Changes during growing up.
• Menstruation cycle.
• Health, Hygiene, Sanitation and aspect of Sanitation.
• Anemia (Cause, symptoms and prevention).
• HIV/AIDS (Spread, Affected age group).
• HIV/AIDS – Prevention and Misconception.
• What is the Balance diet.
• Classification of Diet.
• Responsible Parenthood.
• Kishori Mandal – Foundation and Role.
• Query session, Pre-Post Test.

PULSE POLIO

BVHA has conducted scheduled immunization camps every month from its organizational premises and has covered 726 pregnant women and 1005 children under scheduled immunization. Besides this it has participated in Pulse Polio camps all the time during the year 2007-08 and covered about 1800 children under this campaign

Gaya and Vaishali Districts in Bihar” is being implemented by BVHA from December 2007 onwards, with the support of Population Foundation of India, New Delhi. The objectives of this programme is “To aware, sensitize & motivate community leaders (VHSC & PRIs) for doing proper advocacy for getting services through govt. health centers for the community people at their respective places”, “To sensitize govt. health personnel at block and district level including members of District Health Society and Rogi Kalyan Samiti for providing quality care services to the community people as per NRHM norms” & “To document the actions and changes to share with the state level govt. officials and policy makers for adopting this model for other districts”. The Activities, which have been covered till the end of 2007-08 year, are as follows:

• One to one meetings with Minister and Key Government Officials.
• Training of Trainers for the staff development of the Field Operating Partners.
• Facilities survey completed for seven PHCs of Gaya and Vaishali districts.
• Block Level Advocacy workshops with PRI member in 7 blocks of Gaya and Vaishali Districts.
• 14 nos of Panchayat Level Advocacy workshop with community, PRI, ASHA, AWW, ANM.
• Wall writing in 140 places in 7 blocks of Gaya and Vaishali District.
• 35 Village Health and Sanitation Committee (VHSC) have been formed.
• Training for the VHSC members.

FREEDOM FROM ARSENIC

The programme titled “Freedom from Arsenic through Mitigation and Management of Arsenic Problem from the villages of Khagaul and Danapur Block of Patna District, by Awareness building, Testing, Mapping and Advocacy for Ecological Protective Measures” (in short Freedom from Arsenic) supported by Miseror, is being implemented by BVHA on its own from September 2007 onwards. The programme is of three years duration. The programme target area is the Danapur and Khagaul area of Patna District.

The main objective of the programme is to improve the quality of life  (Health related aspect) of the community people from the probable exposure of Arsenic continuation in drinking water at Danapur and Khagaul Block of Patna district. The vision behind our work is to improve the quality of health of the people of Danapur and Khagaul block of Patna. It would bring the following social changes by  (1) Making people aware of the dangers of Arsenic on Health (2) organizing people to take care of their own health problem particularly Arsenicosis. (3) It would also make people aware to demand from government for safe drinking water facility. Twelve number of Awareness cum Training Programme on Arsenic and Rain-water harvesting for SHGs, PRI members, ANMS etc has been completed during this period. The water testing of the samples has been done in various areas of Danapur and Khagaul.

BVHA with support from  Geneva Global Inc, has started the programme tilted “Advocacy Intervention for Improving Health Services at PHC Level in selected blocks of Kishanganj, Purnia & Katihar districts of Bihar, India”. The objective of this programme is “To Creat conducive Environment for Service providesrs to operate efficiently and improve infant and Maternal Health ”.
The Various Activities which have been undertaken during the year (2007-08) are follows:

• Media Sensitization workshop done at Kishanganj, Purnea and Katihar.. 65 participants took part in the workshop
• Visit and contact with District Health Society in 3 districts in which 6 meetings with CS and DPM, SEMO, DIO, Unicef personnel engaged in RI, Pulse Polio, Vit. A campaign
• Contacts with NGOs: 2 meeting in each district with selected NGOs in 3 district have been conducted for finalization of date of Advocacy workshop with local NGOs at block level in their respective district.

INNOVATION PROJECT

BVHA with support from INP+,  has carried out the implementation of the programmes titled “Capacity Building of Zila Parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat Members for effective implementation of  HIV/AIDS intervention program” in East Champaran District of Bihar. The Target Group were:-

1. PRI Representatives (Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat Members).

ii. PLWHA of Raxaul Block.

During the year 2007-08 the following programmes were organised by BVHA, which are as follows:

• A one-day orientation-training programme on HIV/AIDS separately for members of Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram Panchayat.
• Follow –up meeting with PRIs at different levels.
• Panchayat level awareness Programmes
• Capacity building workshop of PLWHA
• Liaisoning with BNP+ & BSACS
• IEC Material Development.

COMMUNITY HEALTH PROMOTION

CAIRN Energy India Private Limited, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), programme carried out community health promotion activities in association with Bihar Voluntary Health Association, Patna, a pioneer organization in the Health Sector in the state of Bihar, working for last thirty-nine years. Three district identified in Bihar by CAIRN Energy India Private Limited for this intervention were Darbhanga, Madhubani and Samastipur districts. In these three (3) districts, one hundred and twenty villages of twenty-four panchayats in six blocks were covered in the seven and half months of the programme duration. The activities under the Community Health Promotion programme, were carried out between 16th April 2007 to 31st Dec 2007.

The programme was divided into four broad segments, and the number of activities carried under them are as follows: - 

• Peer Educator Training - 12
• Health Mela (Awareness Camp) - 15
• Panchayati Raj Institution {PRI} Training -06
• CHIC establishment – 12.

POST FLOOD RELIEF ACTIVITIES

BVHA has also carried out post flood relief activities in the flood-affected areas, with the support of CAIRN Energy India Private Ltd, at Andheri village of Darbhanga Sardar in collaboration with Ram Narain Vikas Seva Samiti, Darbhanga , and at Tamori village of Lucknor block of Madhubani districts with the collaboration of Samajik Vikas Sansthan., Madhubani About 40 poor flood victims specially having elderly people in the family were given the relief material, comprising of wooden cot, mattress, bucket, bed sheets, plastic, table, chairs and few utensils.

Presently BVHA is carrying out many such programmes under support programme for its member and associates. A brief description of such activities is mentioned below:

1. Capacity Building: - This is an integral part of BVHA, and under this head it has conducted several capacity building programmes for various level of NGO staff and other stake holders. BVHA has conducted some centralized trainings/workshops at Patna and other places in Bihar on different Health issues to develop an understanding on the NRHM and their roles and responsibilities to help the Government functionaries so that the services meant under NRHM reaches the doorsteps of the target beneficiaries.

1. IEC Material Support:BVHA develops and procures different types of IEC materials on different Health and Social Development Issues. And distributes among the VOs and CBOs for use in the field for awareness generation and Behaviour Change. During the year BVHA has developed the following IEC/BCC materials:-
1. Posters- Freedom from Arsenic, 
2. Flips Charts- Kala-azar
3. Flex – Information on Kala-azar
4. Hand Bills
5. Stickers
6. Booklets: BCC Matrix, NRHM
7. CD- Community Health Awareness Programme.

1. Consultancy Services:- BVHA provides consultancy supports to VOs and CBOs for implementation of various projects in a systematic and effective manner. During the year it has helped in developing various project proposals, linkages development with various donor agencies, Government departments for channelisation/ mobilisation of the resources at the VO level. It also conducts monitoring and evaluation of the various field based organisation on behalf of many donor agencies. It also makes several visits to its members as well as associated non-member organisations to help them in identifying the local needs of their area and also helps in developing proper MIS at their level. It also prepares and sends several types of formats and sends the same to various Network Organisations. It also helped more than 30 Grass root level VOs in developing their own HR policy, Purchase policy, Vehicle policy, Finance Policy etc.

• Relief Support: During the year 2007-08 there has been severe flooding in the state of Bihar. As a result of which large number of people living in flood prone districts were seriously affected by various aliments, which left them troubled. BVHA took the initiatives for mobilizing various resources for carrying out Relief and rehabilitation activities with the help of various VOS and CBOs with the support in the form of CASH and Kind from VHAI, New Delhi, CAIRN Energy India Pvt. Ltd, various private and Missionary School like St Joseph Convent, Bankipur, Patna etc. It has also carried out distribution of medicines, clothes, utensils, food items, pots, cot, pillow, mattress, blankets, bed sheets, buckets, cooking items etc among the flood victims through the networking VOs in the flood affected districts. BVHA has also carried out the water purification work at various places by distributing Bleaching Powder, halogen tablets etc. in the flood affected areas of Bihar.

Bihar Voluntary Health Association has its own 3 storied building on its own land with all modest & modern facilities such as:-

• It has one big hall with sitting arrangement of about 100 persons and two small halls with sitting arrangement of 20 to 35 persons.
• It has accommodation facility for 70 persons at a time which includes guest room, double bed, triple bed and dormitory.
• It has its own dining hall and catering facility.
• We have P. A. System, LCD facility, 4 TV & DVD , one VCR for any video show to be used during training/workshop.
• 24 hours electricity (Generator facility) and water facility.
• We have space for vehicle parking.
• Vehicles (4 wheelers –2 & 2 motorbikes).