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- Bhimatangi Road, Kapila Prasad, Bhimatangi Housing Colony, Bhubaneswar
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Resides in: Limpada village
GP: Patrapali Gram panchayat
Block: Muribahal block
Age: 28
Caste: SC
Smt. Lagani Chhura has a total of 10 members in her family. The main source of livelihood for the family is agriculture and daily wage labour. Due to location disadvantages of Limpada village, the people were unable to access various entitlements of the government. Once of the main areas of concern was the nutrition and health of mother and child in the village. Due to lack of knowledge as well as no intervention from the local health service providers; there were rampant cases of anaemia, malnutrition during pregnancy, malnourishment in children from early age; continuous morbidity etc. Although emphasis was placed on the traditional system of mother and child care; it was not turning out to be helpful because of the aggravated stage of the problem. A lot of negative practices were observed in the village such as: (a) Not attending the VHND (b) Selling the nutritious dry food received from the Anganwadi Center (c) Consumption of the eggs given to the pregnant women from the Anganwadi Center by the male members.
With the intervention of NYDHEE through SoCC program and Lagani being selected as one of the project participants; things began to change for her gradually. She participated in 5 activities of SoCC and in due time the SoCC manager explained about the duties and responsibilities of Anganwadi as well as the rights and entitlements pf women and children with respect to this. She also came to know about the free health tests and check-ups available at VHND. She was quick to grasp everything as she was educated till matriculation. During this time she came to know that she was pregnant and wanted to avail the facilities of Anganwadi but her mothers-in-law due to traditional beliefs strongly opposed this.
The monthly meeting and information about the rights and entitlement started spreading to many people in the village. VHND was no longer organized in the village because of nil participation. A meeting was organized by the Project coordinator with the CDPO to explain the critical nature of the problem; however it was informed by the CDPO that due to nil participation they had stopped organizing VHND. NYDHEE staff promised to ensure attendance of women and gradually VHND was regularized from May 2022 in village. Smt. Lagani Chhura registered in AWC after three months of her pregnancy. She has been getting regular health check-ups and follow all the advice from health workers about eating balanced nutritious food. The nutri-feed from Anganwadi this time was consumed only by her. Her family members supported her during this phase and she delivered a healthy baby weighing 4 kg last December, 2022. Her involvement and participation thus contributed to her as well as her baby’s well-being. It was an example in the village and now following her footsteps women attend VHND.
In her own words, “I am very happy that I have a healthy baby who is free from malnourishment. NYDHEE has played a major role in my happiness, since they encouraged me. Initially I used to believe in traditional myths and was scared, but now I am giving information to everyone. I thank NYDHEE for regularizing of VHND through SoCC program as it secures the life and future of every mother and baby”.