A mobile nursing team is dispatched to every pregnant woman in the program to monitor her health and identify any developing issues
About the Project
The project consisted of providing mobile nurses to offer prenatal care and other health services to women and children in rural villages.
Location
Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India
Quick Project Stats
| Funding Date | April 2022 – March 2024 |
| Luena Investment | $10,000 ($5,000 per year) |
| CBO Partner | Global Pearls |
| Village | 50+ rural villages on the outskirts of Karaikudi |
| Country | India |
| # of Children Impacted | 290 pregnant women and their children (2022-2023 program); 271 pregnant women and their children (2023-2024 program) |
| Community Contribution | Community women pay the required rent for the sites where awareness camps, immunization camps, and maternal workshop camps are held. During maternal workshops, women are divided into small groups, and women who are already mothers mentor the young women who are pregnant for the first time. Members of the Women’s Self-Help groups go door-to-door to encourage pregnant women and new mothers to take part in all aspects of the program. |
Rural Villages Lack Access to Health Care
Women in rural villages struggle to access government health care due to lack of transportation. Initially, many women died during pregnancy and childbirth, and even more children died from the lack of prenatal care, proper nutrition, and immunizations. Furthermore, 80% of the women struggled from anemia and other nutritional deficiencies, while 63% of the villagers suffered diarrhea and cramps from intestinal worms.
Mobile Clinic Greatly Improves Community Health
The donation from Luena Foundation was used to provide a mobile health clinic. Pregnant women were educated on proper nutrition and general pre/postnatal care; they were tested monthly for gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, kidney failure, and other health risks; and their children were given immunizations for 6 different diseases. More than 4,000 villagers were treated for intestinal worms. Through a combination of education, testing, immunization camps, and deworming medicine, maternal and infant mortality have been all but eliminated (one maternal death since 2017 and no infant deaths). Since 2021, anemia has been reduced from 80% to 34%.
Activities funded by Luena’s grant:
- Workshops to train pregnant women on important health topics related to pregnancy and birth. Each woman also receives a manual to take home that references everything they learned in the workshop with both words and diagrams (since the women are not always literate).
- Monthly home visits by our mobile nursing team to every pregnant woman in the program to monitor her health and identify any developing issues.
- Regular home monitoring of the babies for two years after birth.
- Immunization clinics organized in the villages for the children. The government supplies the vaccines, but our nurses organize the program.
Meet our Partner Community-Based Organization
Our goal is to tackle the root causes of poverty in some of the most marginalized communities in the world. We believe impactful, cost-effective, and lasting change requires empowering locals to help themselves rather than imposing a project from the outside.
To learn more about our partner organization, click here.
