IUD insertion Campaigns in West Delhi

I can’t believe that the entire month of December has passed by so quickly. I don’t think I’ve actually had a chance to breathe since I got back from Thailand. For the first time, I actually feel overwhelmed. Projects keep to seem pouring in and I am loving the experience. I designed a very neat CSR presentation and I was very pleased by the response provided by the corporation. Actually, I could just see it on the execs face when we showed them the presentation and asked for feedback. I guess a little bit of extra attention always seems to go a long way and I was over the top by the response. I felt that a young foreigner like me could make a difference. Secretly, iv e been missing the corporate sector and my meetings with hotshots but the main difference here was that I enjoyed the interaction because for the first time I felt like I had something to say that directly affected the e welfare of an entire community. And they were listening!

Well the biggest highlight of this month was my role in implementing the IUD insertion campaigns in West Delhi. I had written the concept note in early November . This campaign was particularly important since it gave women the right over their bodies by providing them with safe alternatives for family planning. The multi-load IUD is similar to the Copper T however, the side effects are less. There is a lower copper content (main complaint for joint aches and irritation) and the plastic cap in fact sits perfectly within a woman’s uterus, causing very little pain.

After returning from Bangkok, well have become even more interested and strong willed on promoting the rights of women when it comes to sexual and reproductive health and I was very glad to see it being manifested in such a way. I would be able to actively interact with doctors, female candidates and also act a role of the counsellor during the health camps. The best part of it all, I was able to work with Annu and our coordination and timing was superb.

Little did I realize how hard this project would be to achieve.. Over two weeks we worked with hospital staff to motivate and ensure quality of providing women with IUD insertions.

Annu is probably one of the best community mobilizers I have seen to date in action. Within a matter of an hour she was able to set up a meeting with the ASHA’s (government based field workers on healthcare issues) and Aanganwadis (community social workers) and get them to meet with her. She enlisted government gynocologists who were most familiar with IUD services and got them to sign onto our campaign.

Even though most of these clinics and dispensaries were in the slums of Delhi and we had to travel through dirt infested streets on rickshaws dragging the kits everywhere we went, I felt alive. There is something about working in healthcare that I absolutely love. Each of these camps were set up on a daily basis where motivators could bring in their clients and after proper screening by Dr. Harini and Dr. Annu, they would be able to get the IUD’s inserted

The interactions I had were unexpected. Some had come alone without telling their husbands. In India, where women have so few rights over their bodies, secrecy became their biggest weapon. These women wanted to exercise their right on whether to have children or not and IUD’s for 5 years would guarantee that they wouldn’t get pregnant.



Dr. Harini Conducting her counselling sessions

I also saw the contrast in some of the cases. Because these insertions were being provided free of cost, some husbands also came with their wives, so they could too learn about the possible side effects and ensure that quality treatment was provided. This made me happy. Maybe not all Indian men are that backward when it comes women’s reproductive rights.