Zasu S. GH CHE'22: Maternal Health and Out of Pocket Expenditure

-->

This summer I have been privileged and overjoyed to participate in the India Global Service Learning Program. Through this program, I spent eight weeks living in Mysore, Karnataka, partnered with and learning from the development NGO, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, also known as SVYM. During my time at SVYM, I worked under GRAAM--Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement. My work at GRAAM contributed to a larger study exploring the prevalence, implications, and causes of out of pocket expenditures for maternal healthcare. To better understand these expenditures, I compiled national and district level data on maternal health service uptake, analyzed maternal health trends in Karnataka over the last 20 years, and used statistical methods to explore the relationship between out of pocket expenditures and maternal health. Additionally, I visited a primary health facility and spoke with health professionals to better understand health infrastructure in Karnataka.

After completing research, I found a few key trends. First, in Karnataka institutional births have experienced an impressive increase between 2004 and 2016. Secondly, full antenatal care service uptake has experienced a significant decline, while specific antenatal care indicators (such as neonatal tetanus vaccinations and first trimester check-ups) have experienced a sharp increase directly followed by a sharp decrease.

Additionally, I found a few key correlations. First, I found a correlation between out of pocket expenditures and maternal health outcomes. Lastly, I found correlations between out of pocket expenditures and institutional births, and between out of pocket expenditures and caesarean sections.

Ultimately, my experience at SVYM has affected me personally and professionally. It has challenged me and it has given me the opportunity to experience a different way of life. I am incredibly grateful for all that I have experienced and learned these last eight weeks in Mysore.

Kieu P. GH CHE'21: Assisting in a Diabetes Screening Camp and Generating Educational Materials

-->

This summer, I had an incredible opportunity to work with SVYM and the VILD Foundation to learn about the Indian culture and healthcare system. One of VILD Foundation’s objectives is to form and support self-help groups, which mostly comprise of women, to produce and sell handmade products to earn additional income for their families. I had multiple chances to visit them in their villages and learning about their lives. In addition, I also visited some health facilities such as primary healthcare centers and was really impressed by how their organization and dedicated staff. Everywhere we go, we were welcomed and received so much support from the people here.

Conducting the diabetes camp

My project focused on the Diabetes Screening Camp and generating some educational materials about diabetes to follow up. The main aim of the camp was to identify diabetic patients and to follow up and provide some information to the population about the disease. We also wanted to assess the effectiveness of the Indian Diabetes Risk Score in pre-screening and quickly selecting only those with high risk of diabetes for blood glucose tests. This is due to the lack of availability and time to perform such tests. The camp was a great success with over 90 participants and we found 24 new cases of people with hypertension and diabetes. All of the participants were also taught simple yoga poses as a form of exercise to be done at home.

Kieu at work at VLEAD

Throughout my time here, not only did I have the chance to meet and form lasting relationship with amazing, humble and passionate people here who are working hard to improve the lives of others, I also get to apply all of my knowledge into real life. I learned the importance of integrating cultural and local context into questionnaires and how to navigate the professional environment and intercultural interactions. Overall, this experience has been extremely meaningful and enriching to me and have reinforced my wish to pursue a career in global health with a focus on Asia.

Beth G. GH'20: TI Migrant Project

-->

This past summer, I had the incredible privilege of working under the TI-Migrant Project at SVYM in Mysore, India. TI stands for targeted intervention -- the main goals of the project are to decrease the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and STIs/RTIs among migrant workers in Mysore through migrant community-targeted interventions. The team does a lot of work to build rapport with stakeholders, such as supervisors of migrant work sites, so that they can go into these sites and conduct health camps, educational activities, counseling, interviews, and much more. While many people may think of migrant workers in terms of transnational migration, India faces a vast amount of internal migration between states. Individuals and their families who decide to migrate are normally in search of employment opportunities and economic security that they cannot find at home, although their destinations do not necessarily provide the security that they need. Migrant workers are a particularly vulnerable population because mobility decreases access to health and social services and increases feelings of isolation, loneliness, and the likelihood for risk-taking. The fact that the languages and cultures differ so greatly between states only increases this fact.

Although the TI-Migrant’s main focus is sexual and reproductive health, they also value the overall health and well-being of migrants. My project focused on the social well-being of migrants; the objectives were to identify the needs of social entitlements among the migrant worker community. I created a questionnaire to analyze social welfare awareness, eligibility, barriers to access, and unmet needs among migrant workers, and disseminated it at various field sites with a translator. I found that awareness of different social entitlement schemes among migrants was very low, but that migrants had a strong desire to save money for the future of their families and their children. I also found that many migrants lack basic needs at their living site, including toilets and clean running water. To finalize my project, I created a report outlining the results of my survey, as well as a document containing information on social entitlement schemes in different states of India, to be used by migrants who want to access programs in their native state.

My project provided me with the kind of education that the classroom cannot provide—the best kind of education. Visiting the field and interacting with migrants illustrates the importance of knowing and understanding the community in which you are researching; seeing faces and hearing stories firsthand puts empathy and meaning behind numbers and figures. Additionally, seeing the passion and drive of the TI-Migrant team and the dedication that they held towards their community showed me how important it is to find meaning in your work. Although some moments were challenging and I was pushed out of my comfort zone at times, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to pursue this project with SVYM. I know that this summer will continue to impact the choices I make and the values I hold for years to come.