Tribhuvandas Foundation
Integrated Rural Health & Development Program
What We Do: Primary Healthcare Program
The Primary Healthcare program is a very important program of TF. It operates in all of the program villages of TF- approximately 850 villages. Each year, TF receives around 700,000 patients.
As part of this program, the village health worker, a volunteer who resides in the same village, educates the villagers about hygeine, sanitation, nutrition, prevention of tobacco and alcohol addiction, de-addiction, exercise, vaccinations, prevention of infections and prevention of lifestyle disorders.
The village health worker educates the people in groups, and she also educates vulnerable individuals. Each month, she educates the residents of the villages about five topics- one related to an infectious disease, one related to a non-communicable disease and one related to hygeine, sanitation, nutrition and the like. She also educates about two other topics related to mother and child health programs and tobacco control programs.
Selection of the topics is done on the basis of relevance for that particular month. For example, in November she educates about Diabetes Mellitus because the 14th of November is World Diabetes Day, while in June, the topic of choice is Malaria and infectious diseases because of the increase in Malaria cases at this time. Each year, around 400,000 people participate in these educational sessions.
In addition to the educational sessions, the village health worker also provides treatment for 32 common ailments which are common in these villages. The medicines which are provided at the village level are essential medicines- they are of good quality, they are provided at the cheapest possible rates and the doses given are as per standard protocols. This reduces the cost of treatment, saves time, and also helps in reducing the disease load. Those patients who require secondary level treatment are identified earlier and referred to higher centers of standard quality. The village health workers also help the treatment of Tuberculosis patients.
The Menstrual Hygiene Programme
The Menstrual Hygiene Programme was started in October 2011. This programme was initiated in association with Johnson & Johnson, India. Under this programme, TF buys Stayfree Secure Sanitary Pads from J&J,India at a subsized price and sends it to the village diary units wherein TF sells its medecins with the help of the village health workers. Every month when the VHW's visit the foundation, along with medecins, these women are provided with sanitary pads that they can sell in their respective villages. The village health workers explain to the women the demerits of using cloth or other means of protection at the time of menstruation and highlight the benefits of using the sanitary pads that are being sold to them at a special subsized price.