2. ‘Go to the people
Live amongst them
Love them
Listen to them
Learn from them
Begin with what they know
Build upon what they
have’
- Dr. Abhay and Dr. Rani
Bang
3. About the organisation
Dr. Abhay Bang and Dr. Rani Bang are Indian social activists,
researchers working in the field of community health
in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India.
They have revolutionized healthcare for the poorest people in India
and have overseen a programme that has substantially reduced infant
mortality rates in one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the world.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) and UNICEF have endorsed
their approach to treating newborn babies and the programme is
currently being rolled out to parts of Africa.
The Bangs founded SEARCH (Society For Education, Action and
Research in Community Health) – a non-profit organisation, which is
involved in rural health service and research. The Bang couple is the
winner of the prestigious Maharashtra Bhushan Award. They have
many published articles in The Lancet, one of the world's most
prestigious medical journals
4.
5.
6. The Home Based Neonatal Care model
developed by Dr. Abhay Bang has resulted in a
significant reduction in infant mortality in the study
villages of Gadchiroli and has been incorporated
in the 12th national five year plan of the Indian
governance.
The other projects undertaken by SEARCH,
currently, include tobacco de-addiction, mobile
medical unit to the tribal villages around
Gadchiroli and the Ashramshaala project.
10. Work profile
As a communication intern at SEARCH, I had worked
with all the earlier mentioned projects as their
photographer and also indulged in developing case
studies for each, which would be used to educate and
attract donors for the said projects.
I also scripted and directed a pilot video/case study of a
teacher presently teaching at an Ashramshaala who
had, at one point of his life, been a regular consumer of
tobacco but has been sober for the last twenty years.
The aim of this video was to study further if this subject
(teacher) could be utilised as a role model and
motivating factor for other such teachers who use and
inspire their students to use tobacco.
11. Apart from these major projects, I also
documented the various health camps held at
SEARCH – spine camp, surgery camp, dental
camp, etc.
All these camps were weekend camp: held for two
days every month or so, as a regular check up for
the tribal population.
All in all, I participated in all the projects that
SEARCH had to offer- in the form of a media
trainee- and value these six weeks as the most
informative and educative, personally and
professionally.
12. Case studies
Statistically speaking, during my internship, I
had presented three in-depth medical case
studies, one report for a dental camp, and one
case study on pre-term delivery for personal
learning.
13. Excerpt from a case study
‘Children less than five years of age are one of most vulnerable groups
affected by malaria. There were an estimated 660 000 malaria deaths
around the world in 2010, of which approximately 86% were in children
under five years of age.”- WHO.
Ishant Naresh is a five year old residing in Kusumtola village near Dhanora,
Maharashtra.
He comes from a tribal family whose economic activities are solely agriculture
based; apparently, one can earn around seventy rupees daily by selling the
crop Ishant’s family grows if one’s a female while males have chances of
earning even up to 100 rupees per day.
Keeping the blatant sexism involved here at bay, we are at shock by the
happiness Ishant’s maternal grandmother exuberates while informing us of
these “grand” figures.
For the tribal of the villages around Gadchiroli, earning anything between
seventy to hundred rupees every day is a matter of pride and joy and this
concept is very evident in their opinions and statements made otherwise
Ishant had contracted malaria during his visit to his maternal grandmother’s
village-Wadgaon, and had been brought to the Mobile medical unit on
complaints of high fever with constant chills, where the Mobile medical Unit of
14. ....... As is very prominent in children of that age, Ishant also seemed to be
undergoing separation anxiety disorder which could be seen in the way he
kept seeking his mom and weeping when he wasn’t allowed to go back to
her; though this could easily be seen as a very new way of behaviour from
him due to the difficulty from the illness, it can’t be argued either way in
detail as it was very late in the evening and Ishant and his grandmother
were in a hurry to get back to their homes and wouldn’t readily answer our
questions.......
........ Malaria is an internationally devastating disease, producing nearly
600 million new infections and 3 million deaths each year.
Malaria, a disease of antiquity, has proved to be a formidable deterrent to
the cultural and socio-economic progress of man in the tropical, sub-
tropical, and monsoon prone zones of the world.
Malaria is not equally distributed in all malaria endemic districts of India.
Prevalence of malaria is significantly higher in the hill tract districts. The
reason might be that districts are hilly and covered with forests and lakes;
thereby providing an excellent habitat for malaria vectors; 10% of the total
population of the State of Maharashtra belongs to tribal population groups
which live in such hill tract districts.’
15. The above case study was conducted on a five year old child suffering from
malaria in the malaria endemic villages of Gadchiroli in a desperate bid to
make donors and government officials realise the importance of the health
situation at Gadchiroli.
Gadchiroli is a prominent district in India which has been recognised by the
Government for its health problems- especially chronic malaria. Yet, the
government fails to allocate enough funds and aid to combat this medical
evil every year and this has resulted in grave danger to thousands of
toddlers and women of Gadchiroli.
Despite this exaggerated widespread presence of malaria, this year and as
usual, there have been constant differences between government officials
and the representatives at SEARCH in this context; even though SEARCH
has provided mosquito nets to the villagers to prevent contraction of
malaria, government has failed to issue Deltamethrin( the substance by
which mosquito nets are medicated) to them. Even the medication used to
cure malaria for young children was not available in the medical depots in
Gadchiroli.
16. And to highlight such issues, I was allowed to
research and develop two case studies- one
mentioned above and the other on cerebral
malaria in 3 years old boy; cerebral malaria has
100% case fatality rate which means that there is
a 100% chance of death is it’s not treated at the
right time and in the right method.
17. Photography
The nine major projects that I had been appointed the
photographer as can be broadly classified as-
1) Photos of workshop conducted for Ashramshaala teachers
2) workshop conducted by vyasanmukti Kendra (de-addiction
branch) of SEARCH
3) photos of the case study for cerebral malaria
4) case study of spine camp
5) case study of malaria endemic in tribal villages around
Gadchiroli
6) photos of viper bite
7) spine camp
8) surgical camp/village
9) HBNC (home based neonatal care)
22. Special mention
While on a trip to research about epilepsy in the tribal villages of
Gadchiroli, I happened to witness a heart breaking and chaotic
medical process of pre-term delivery.
The story goes as such:
In the tribal village of Kondawahi, a lady had gone to defecate
when she happened to deliver a pre term child. Till an hour, she
received no aid- medical or otherwise, because according to
tribal culture, men are not allowed to touch the just delivered
child or the woman who has given birth; it’s considered ill fate if
one does.
Also, that village’s dai was very old and couldn’t be of help to the
lady and her child.
After an hour or so, SEARCH’s MMU, when on a regular health
check up, was informed of this and SEARCH’s medical
representatives rushed to the spot.
23. I got to witness the
gruesomeness of this
incident, and finally and the
child and the woman were
admitted to SEARCH’s
Danteshwari hospital.
Sadly, and due to medical
and technical limitations,
the child died within two
days and the wife had to be
hospitalised and kept under
constant medical
supervision for three
weeks.
24. As I was a regular visitor at
their ward, to gather
details about the same, I
happened to develop an
emotional bond with the
lady’s husband and her
five years old daughter- a
bond I shall cherish for
some years now.
The lady survived, finally,
and the family has been
happy since.
25.
26. Videography
As has been mentioned earlier, I was also
responsible for scripting, shooting and editing a
visual case study of an Ashramshaala teacher for
the benefit of inspiring other teachers to stay
sober. This was the most beneficial experience at
SEARCH for me: least resources available
including time and technical aid and the pressure
of delivering a worthy item on time.
Despite the hurdles and an egoistic response from
a few viewers, the video was highly appreciated
and accepted by most.
27. Notes
Apart from all this, I also got to meet a tribal
leader from Mendalekha who has prophesised
and fought for ‘our village, our government’. It
was an enriching experience for me as I got to
interact and listen to a social activist of such
great ideas and exposure and being a
journalism student aspiring to bring about social
welfare through my work, I couldn’t have asked
for better encounters.
28. Organisational chart:
Like any Non governmental
organisation, SEARCH has
two founders- Dr. Abhay and
Dr. Rani Bang. While Dr.
Abhay Bang is immersed in
research, Dr. Rani Bang is a
practising gynaecologist at
SEARCH’s Danteshwari
hospital.
29. Under them, the administrative director and a
senior doctor- Yogesh Kalkonde, my boss.
Many departments under them; current
projects working on include tobacco de-
addiction, Ashramshaala project and the MMU.
They have constant and often influx of interns,
especially from out of India.
30. Experiences:
This internship provided me with the required
opportunities and resources to develop my skills and
use them for the welfare and benefit of the NGO.
From making my first Marathi video, with only basic
knowledge of Marathi, to forging emotional bonds with
people I wouldn’t have usually interacted with, my
internship has been fully rewarding and a rather
learning process for me.
All the stories that I have been able to live and
document are worth the six weeks and I would not
trade this internship for any other.
35. SWOT analysis:
Strengths:
1) Intellectually and spiritually stimulating work
and stay environment,
2) Simple and basic living conditions
promoting Gandhi’s ideologies,
3) well drafted work profile
36. Weakness
1) high communication gap between
authorities and interns
2) hypocritical authorities
3) prevalent and high use of Marathi language
only for communication within office also.
37. Suggestions and references:
NGO is doing a great work and the tribal population seem
glad but the internal work environment is very tense and
heated which is not ideal for such an institute.
Last minute communication and major gaps in
communication visible at different tiers of work hierarchy, this
point should be noted.
The institute should be homely and warm and not like a office
full of workaholics.
Use of other languages like Hindi should be taken up often.
