Jamkhed Model

As the melodic sounds of male chanting and drumming waft through the cool evening air, I take a moment to reflect on my first days at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) in Jamkhed.

This long-standing Primary Health Care Project, established in 1970, pre-dates the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978. Taking into account the need for accessible, available, affordable and acceptable health services, indigenous Village Health Workers (VHW) are trained to deliver quality, basic and essential health services and essential drugs in the villages where they live.

These women tend to be lower caste, often illiterate women who are chosen by their village to receive training and ongoing monitoring and support from CRHP. Training takes into consideration community needs and priorities, and focuses on health promotion, and disease and injury prevention, as well as curative and rehabilitative care.

With a trusting relationship built between the Village Health Worker and her local villagers, the VHW begins to raise awareness of local health issues and explains how the villagers can work together to improve health. Particular attention is paid to maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Government health workers provide immunizations in the villages. The CRHP hospital is always available to take referrals from Village Health Workers.

The formation of farmers’ clubs and women’s groups has organized and empowered villagers and engaged them in health and income generation project planning and implementation. The VHW works closely with adolescent girls to build self-confidence and self-esteem, and to raise awareness of adolescent health and safety issues. As villagers start small businesses and learn new farming techniques, income and food supplies improve. When families are adequately nourished, and when they have access to safe drinking water and clean living environments, individual, family and village health improves.

You can learn more about the Jamkhed Model at: www.jamkhed.org

I have had the privilege of witnessing the results of the tireless efforts of some Village Health Workers. Adolescent girls from several villages arrived at the CRHP compound for their monthly meeting. In a room filled with foreign university students, both male and female, several girls confidently came up to the microphone to tell their story about how the adolescent girl project has very positively changed their lives. Some proudly presented what they had learned from their Village Health Worker about adolescent health and nutrition. The girls, aged 11 to 18, smiled broadly when it was announced that all of them were attending school.

This, in my opinion, is Primary Health Care at its finest!