Women and Children First
- Feb 3, 2017
- 3 minute read
India is an emerging superpower, and has witnessed rapid economic growth in the past decade, but the State of health of women and children is dismal, especially in urban slums and rural areas.
Maternal mortality rate is 167 per 100000 live births, Infant mortality rate is 40 per 1000 live births. Percentage of new adolescent HIV infections among girls 49% and the largest percentage of deaths occur among young married women in 15-24 years age group. While the government has various initiatives aimed at improving the health of women and children, there is a lot that companies like Philips can do. Which is why Women and Child development is big on Philips India’s agenda.
We have launched projects since 2015 and are now touching the lives of lakhs of women and children in 7 States through over 12 projects!
We are focusing our efforts on Improving Maternal and Child Health Services and Livelihood opportunities for Women through various initiatives:
Our Community centers work towards better Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health
We are working closely with NGO’s and adopting a strategic approach to Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A). We use the “Continuum of Care” model for improving health during these key stages of life by creating awareness and promoting health seeking behavior, connecting them to government health services, working against female feticide, advocating family planning, and advice on ante natal care, adolescent counselling and a range of other issues.
Mobile Health vans
While the health statistics of rural India continue to be poor, the health status and access to health for the poor in urban slum dwellers has surfaced to be equally deplorable. Despite accounting for 1/4th of the country’s poor population, urban areas have less than 4% of government primary health care facilities. The neglect in even the simplest preventive medical treatment usually leads to a more serious ailment and can sometimes be fatal or a high economic burden. Our Mobile Health Vans increase access to primary healthcare services equipped with basic diagnostic equipment, doctor, nurse, technician, pharmacist and health volunteer.
Skill Centers
Economic empowerment of women is also essential. Our Women centric Skill Centers targets prospective candidates in the age group of 18-25 who have dropped out of school, junior college and sometimes even graduates without the requisite skills needed for employment .More than 250 women will be trained annually from urban slums at Smile Twin e-Learning Program (STeP) centers in Bengaluru and Delhi in basic finance, retail management, communication and other necessary skills.
