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INDIA/ MATERNAL INFANT MORTALITY
STORY: INDIA/ HEALTH INNOVATION
TRT:04:00
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24-27 APRIL 2013, INDIA
1. Med shot, Roopwati in car
2. Wide shot, cows outside
3. Wide shot, road
4. Med shot, Roopwati in car
5. Wide shot, ambulance crossing river
6. Med shot, driver
7. Wide shot, ambulance in village
8. Wide shot, villagers
9. Wide shot, women going into home
10. Close up, Roopwati
11. Close up, baby
12. Med shot, Roopwati speaking
13. Med shot, Roopwati in hospital
14. Close up, scale
15. Close up, baby
16. Wide shot, Roopwati entering ambulance
17. Close up, phone to call center operator
18. Close up keyboard
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Gagan Gupta, UNICEF Health Specialist:
“When we started this work five years back the biggest challenge which we had was to reach out to the mothers and children who needed the care the most and these were the ones who were often missed out because the facilities were far off and few. There was no transport available. 5 years back every second woman was delivering at home but now 8 out of 10 women are delivering at hospital, and this region of Madhya Pradesh has recorded the lowest maternal mortality in the entire state.”
20. Wide shot, new born taken away to crib
21. Med shot, medical worker
22. Close up, newborn
23. Med shot, grandmother watches
24. Wide shot, grandmother watches
25. Med shot, grandmother
26. Close up, child on respirator
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Tania Goldner, Chief, UNICEF Madhya Pradesh office:
“I would say, being also a woman, it was frightening, it must have been frightening for the women: women who are pregnant, women from the families who were trying to support, because this lack of services pushed them all the time to deal with all these health issues on their own. Now, I feel that we are able to bring these services, and not only services, good quality services, close to people’s homes, close to women and children that need those services.”
28. Med shot, construction
29. Med shot, in born unit sign
30. Wide shot, medical workers
31. Med shot, medical workers
32. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. M. Geeta, Director, National Rural Health Mission, Madhya Pradesh:
“We actually drew from the technical expertise of UNICEF and this enabled us to scale up the whole experience of Guna and Shivpuri. As of today we have a near total coverage of the state for the SNCUs and call centers and so on and this has been possible with the technical expertise and it has been heavily supported in terms of financial assistance which came from the National Rural Health Mission of the Madhya Pradesh government.”
33. Wide shot, baby on bed
34. Med shot, mother watching child
35. Close up, baby
36. Close up, mother’s face
37. Close up, baby under ultraviolet ray light
38. Close up, baby under ultraviolet ray light
Roopwati is on her way home.
She's in an ambulance provided by the government. 24 hours earlier it took her in the opposite direction to give birth in a clinic under medical supervision.
Just two years ago this journey wouldn't have been possible.
There was no ambulance, no clinic and Roopwati would have been forced to have baby at home.
If something had gone she'd have been in trouble, with little chance of reaching a doctor.
As it was the birth went without any problems, and now Roopwati has got a healthy son. Everything went really well, she says, it was easy.
Roopwati was lucky.
UNICEF has been piloting solutions to the problem in her home area.
Working with the government, it has upgraded her nearest health centre, so that, for the first time, women could safely give birth there.
It provided new equipment and hired new nurses.
A call centre, in the district hospital two hours away, makes sure that its ambulance reaches women on time and takes them home again.
SOUNDBITE (English) Gagan Gupta, UNICEF Health Specialist:
“When we started this work five years back the biggest challenge which we had was to reach out to the mothers and children who needed the care the most and these were the ones who were often missed out because the facilities were far off and few. There was no transport available. 5 years back every second woman was delivering at home but now 8 out of 10 women are delivering at hospital, and this region of Madhya Pradesh has recorded the lowest maternal mortality in the entire state.”
If Roopwati's baby had had any problems, he could have come here.
UNICEF has equipped the district hospital with this special new born care unit.
This boy, one of pair of twins, has a lung problem.
Without this help he would find it hard to breathe. Like many babies here he is also underweight. His grandmother explains that his mother hasn't been eating properly.
SOUNDBITE (English) Tania Goldner, Chief, UNICEF Madhya Pradesh office:
“I would say being also a woman, it was frightening, it must have been frightening for the women: women who are pregnant, women from the families who were trying to support, because this lack of services pushed them all the time to deal with all these health issues on their own. Now, I feel that we are able to bring these services, and not only services, good quality services, close to people’s homes, close to women and children that need those services.”
UNICEF started this work five years ago in only two districts.
It’s proved to be such a success that the Madhya Pradesh government has replicated it elsewhere. Medical facilities have been improved right across the state.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. M. Geeta, Director, National Rural Health Mission, Madhya Pradesh:
“We actually drew from the technical expertise of UNICEF and this enabled us to scale up the whole experience of Guna and Shivpuri. As of today we have a near total coverage of the state for the SNCUs and call centers and so on and this has been possible with the technical expertise and it has been heavily supported in terms of financial assistance which came through from the National Rural Health Mission of the Madhya Pradesh government.”
The impact has been enormous.
Every year, half a million pregnant women are using the ambulance service and 50,000 newborn lives are being saved by the special care units.
Other Indian states, and the central government, are now interested in introducing these programs too.
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