Making an IMPACT

We wrapped up a whirlwind week with a whirlwind day in several rural villages with IMPACT India. It felt wonderful to get out of the city, and we were able to observe some of the activities IMPACT does in the rural areas working with tribal people, including an ashramshala (residential school), a breastfeeding education session, a primary care center, and a mobile eye clinic. One thing we did not get to see was the Lifeline Express, a train the visits approximately 10 rural locations a year delivering life-saving surgeries free of cost to patients. The train, which is sponsored by members of Parliament and corporations, has nearly eliminated cataracts and has transformed people’s lives by, for example, fixing cleft lips. IMPACT India seems to be an example of public-private partnership that actually works.

Our day was like a smorgasbord of public health interventions in action. At the Bapugaon Ashramshala, we were welcomed by the girls of the school and participated in a Vitamin A and Iron/Folic Acid supplement distribution. We learned that the school has health monitors, girls who are elected by their peers to BMI and report any illness (eye infection, lice, etc.) among the groups of 10 they each represent (see picture below). I was really moved by this empowering role for the young girls, and the potential long-term impact in can have on their ability to recognize illness in their children someday.


Later that day we saw a hemoglobin testing to identify anemia, a mobile van performing eye exams (picture below), and a primary care center that serves 50,000 people, providing everything from antenatal care to snakebite treatment.

The most interesting part of the day for me was listening in on the breastfeeding counseling provided to a group of 10 or so women by a nurse midwife. The messages the midwife delivered were spot-on. It almost seemed like she was following Dr. Ramiah’s bullet points from the Maternal and Child Nutrition course I took earlier this summer. It was so refreshing to hear that accurate health messages from WHO and others are making it to women in rural areas.

An inspiring day, filled with hundreds of adorable children, but we also had to face reality. What I found most disheartening was when we talked about how most of the girls in the school will be married off at age 18, if not before, and few will have the opportunity to chase their dreams, like one girl who told us she wants to be a doctor. IMPACT’s general director stressed that the most practical intervention for these girls is keeping them in school until 10^th grade and then providing vocational education so they might be able to learn tailoring, weaving, and so on, to earn a living and provide for their families. This is where social entrepreneurship can come in, but it takes time and may not drastically change lives. Thus I felt like today was a good example of the potential of social entrepreneurship, as well as public-private partnerships, but also its limitations.