*Y.C.* Mother Network

Localização

Please note that this idea is still in the preliminary planning stage.

I've been thinking a lot about my days as an intern at a local clinic, and one of the biggest barriers to receiving any kind of reproductive health care is actually being able to access the services. Women are often discouraged from seeking reproductive services and care because they don't have a car, or they can't afford to miss work or pay for public transportation. Plus, if they already have small children, they can't afford to pay for a sitter or daycare. The same is true for many women in India, who face even greater economic barriers when accessing maternal health services.

I am proposing two things that are connected to the issue of accessibility: free transportation for pre and post natal screening / healthcare, plus creating a network of local recent or soon-to-be mothers who would be willing to look after children while the other women are going to the clinic. As even more incentive to go, the women who come to the clinics would receive some kind of rations (and if she works, daily pay) for their families, as would the women who agree to take part in the care-taking network. When the women come to the clinic they would receive care, and information on maternal and reproductive health. I would also hope that these women would receive information on how to talk to their children about reproductive health (especially if they have daughters), and how to negotiate safe sex and family planning with their partners, all of which would be delivered in a culturally sensitive manner. The hope is that, by creating this additional "mother network" the women who take the classes will pass their knowledge on to other women who may become pregnant, or who have recently had children. This network would be especially helpful for women who are HIV positive, as they may have been ostracized by their families, and lack any social or economic support.

I was thinking this would take place in the villages in the outskirts of New Delhi. I chose New Delhi because there are so many NGOs that provide these very services for free (I’m volunteering at one now, and they’re network is very extensive). So, it would be a matter of utilizing resources that are already available but just not accessible to women living beyond the city.

I think the safest mode of transportation for the women would be taxis, which are large enough to carry several women. I know that there are problems in general with taxis being unreliable or generally unsafe, so I think the best way to approach this would be to create a small taxi company with the sole purpose of transporting these women.

In order to connect the women to the services, I would first identify the clinics that offer these services and who would also be willing to participate. Then, I think it would be best to go into the villages and offer a few group workshops to let the women know what’s going on and how the program would work. Since phone and internet access would be limited, I would also use those initial workshops to start setting up appointments in advance, so that the taxis could be sent on that predetermined date. It would be a good idea to give out little calendars to the women so that they can keep track of their appointments and their baby’s progress, as well.

The meetings would also be used to talk to the women about any needs that they feel they need to address about their pregnancy or motherhood, so that they could be matched with the best possible clinic. These meetings would continue once a month after that to continue to schedule appointments, and to follow up and see how the program could be improved based on feedback from the women.