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End MM Now: Fighting Maternal and Infant Mortality through Community Reporting

With the highest number of maternal deaths in the world, India leads a quiet war against women. Ninety percent of these deaths are preventable, often caused by fatal delays in seeking and obtaining care. The North Eastern state of Assam leads the country with the highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR), and one of the highest infant mortality ratios (IMR) in India. These human rights violations are particularly prevalent for women hailing from Adivasi (tribal) communities who live and work in the tea gardens of Assam. The lack of data on the Adivasi community makes it particularly difficult to address some of the gaps in the implementation of maternal and infant health policies.

For this reason, Nazdeek, PAJHRA (Promotion, and Advancement of Justice, Harmony and Human Rights of Adivasi) and ICAAD (International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination), have developed an innovative project, to empower Adivasi women to identify and report cases of health rights violations. “End Maternal Mortality Now” fuses legal empowerment, community monitoring and technology to combat preventable maternal and infant mortality in Sonitpur district, Assam.

The data collected, backed with field research and interviews with patients and health workers, reveals vital insights on a forgotten community’s struggle. The ambition of this Report is to bring light to the challenges that Adivasi women face in navigating the health system, and give voice to those who are left out of the system’s path. Through this process we hope a sustained dialogue begins between community members and health authorities in a joint effort to save mother and infant lives.

 

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Uploaded on: Jun 16, 2016
Last Updated: Jun 22, 2016
Year Published: 2016


Resource Tags

Resource Type: Practitioner Resources Issues: Community Paralegals, Gender-based violence, Health, Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Policy Advocacy, Women's Rights Tool Type: Reports / Research Method: Mediation & Conflict Resolution, Research Languages: English Regions: India