Healthlink Worldwide

Overview

Healthlink Worldwide is working with Lepra, India on a five year project, which aims to strengthen government health programmes in the rural areas of the Mayurbhanj district, Orrissa.

Mayurbhanj is the biggest district in Orissa, spanning 10, 418 sq km, with 26 administrative divisions (blocks) and a population of over 2 million.  Close to 60% of the district’s population belong to tribal groups living in remote, forested terrain. Health issues affecting the area include high rates of communicable disease, such as malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, and high infant and maternal mortality rates. Tribal groups tend to have below average health status compared with the rest of the population. Malnutrition and reduced growth are common and less antenatal care is available.

To address the needs of this disparate and dispersed population Lepra’s integrated community health project centres on developing and utilising local community networks to bring much needed health provision to the area. Community based organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across all 26 district blocks are being supported with a number of capacity developing activities. The project includes health promotion workshops, education, training, information sharing, networking, and advocacy. In addition Lepra is extending the provision of its specialised leprosy services, such as community based rehabilitation.

Local health awareness activities and campaigns, which will develop appropriate resource materials, are being supported with the participation of youth groups, self-help groups, traditional healers, and health workers and government health centre staff.

Diversity training
Healthlink Worldwide has brought its specialised expertise in communication, knowledge management and learning to support the project in a number of ways. At the beginning of the project a three-day diversity training workshop took place to promote rights and inclusion in all aspects of the project. It included staff not just from Mayurbhanj, but from across India, as it was felt that the training was appropriate for Lepra staff outside of the project. It provided a way to explore issues of diversity at an organisational level. The training focused on practical applications and development of action plans. It was designed to be an easily adaptable training module which could be delivered when participants returned to their work settings after the initial training.

Information needs assessment
Healthlink Worldwide completed a needs assessment for the project, which provided a snapshot of how health information is accessed and used in Mayurbhanj with reference to malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy and HIV and AIDS. The assessment focused on the views of people involved with health issues at state, district and local level. It highlighted the potential to link health information provision more closely with participatory health communication and advocacy work. A challenge for information management capacity - making sure that relevant information is gathered and communicated – is ensuring that the needs of people in rural areas are understood and met as both health services and communication channels are limited. As part of a holistic approach to health communication, information management can play a key role in improving health in the region. The recommendations of the assessment have been fed into the programme of activities.

Community training
Healthlink Worldwide is also using the following approaches and activities to support community information management:

• Community information management workshops
• Participatory communication training - Quest
• Communicating for Advocacy workshops

The community information management workshops and the Quest and CFA approaches compliment each other and support the development of community resource centres and networks. The workshops focus on the importance of the community defining its own needs and inclusive planning in order to begin to meet these needs.

Valuing and engaging with indigenous knowledge, should be an integral part of the community resource centres. Clearly, community resource centres are most effective if they are proactive and engage with community members, and especially with vulnerable groups. By recognising the need for community resource centres to be valued and ‘owned’ by the community means the centres do not simply meet the remit of the project, but their sustainability beyond the project is also addressed.

The Quest approach helps to answer many communication questions, such as; who is communicating, what information is being passed on, to whom and in what format? Quest draws on the information and experience gathered in community resource centres to develop appropriate communication resources and activities. Communication for advocacy then adds the capacity and tools to support local communities to engage with broader constituencies to develop a social change agenda.

Altogether the approaches enable resource centre workers to train community groups to develop and manage local resource centres.

Ultimately, the lessons learned from local health communication initiatives developed through Quest and CFA can be documented and shared through community resource centres which strengthen community information and communication capacity.