PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Sept 19: The public health vertical of Tata Steel Foundation ( TSF ) brought together representatives of State machinery, American India Foundation, organisational healthcare practitioners and grassroots healthcare workers for a state consultation on MANSI+ (Maternal and Neonatal Survival Initiative).
Arun Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, Government of Jharkhand was the chief guest on the occasion.
In his address, to the gathering, he lauded the efforts of the Tata Steel Foundation and spoke of several new ideas to enhance healthcare facilities in rural sectors.
He further made suggestions on having blood storage facilities at the Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs), creation of childcare and expecting mother kits, adolescent healthcare scheme and few others that would suitably address the concerns around maternal and neonatal health.
A coffee table book, encapsulating the ten fruitful years of MANSI+ was also unveiled at the event by the chief guest.
MANSI+, launched in 2021-22 and building on the learnings of earlier years, presently reaches every rural household in remote and hard-to-reach areas in the Kolhan division of Jharkhand, saturating all 38 developmental blocks across three districts – East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan, in a life-cycle-based approach.
Adding to the conversation, Sourav Roy, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Steel Foundation, said, “Health has always been a core focus area for us at the Tata Steel Foundation. We have been making consistent efforts to promote health-seeking behaviour through various pillars, like, in MANSI+, we have operation sunshine – an app that records real-time data and sends an alarm for immediate intervention. MANSI+ is a comprehensive three-pronged approach which covers adolescent sexual health and awareness, the nutritional aspect of expecting mothers and the holistic growth of the mother and the child. And, the success of MANSI+ in the last ten years has motivated to have loftier ambitions by recalibrating our approach to overall health, as we are now taking small steps in addressing concerns around non-communicable and vector-borne diseases, anaemia and preventable blindness.”
Tata Steel Foundation has been focused on reducing the maternal mortality rate across Jharkhand, through their flagship programme MANSI+, with an emphasis on nutritional health, hygiene, sexual awareness, and regular home visits.
Keeping that goal in sight, a Prasuti Pratikshalay was recently inaugurated in Dumaria, East Singhbhum, which is one of the remotest corners in Jharkhand, and a government healthcare is at least 25-30 km away.
Through these interventions, regular training and workshops, Kishore Nav Dampati MANSI Mandili (an awareness session focussed on adolescent marriages and sexual health) – MANSI+ aims to bring down the MMR, NMR, and preventable deaths by 50 per cent.
