The 28th Foreign Correspondent Report

Daring to Be the Change
Ms. Swapna MAJUMDAR (India)

When residents of Patahi block in East Champaran district of the Indian state ofBihar see Anita Lakra, they feel reassured. They know that come rain or shine,
Anita, an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), will come to help them. What has
endeared Anita to the community is her courage to brave not just the vagaries ofweather and the rugged, difficult terrain that she traverses every day for work but
also the Naxals. The area is affected by internal conflict and school teachers,
government functionaries and even students prefer to stay at home rather than risk
confrontation with the Naxals. But Anita has never missed a day of duty. Every day
she is out at 8 am on her cycle to visit the eight anganwadi centers (rural child care
centres in India) under her area of work to give pregnant women tetanus shots andiron tablets. She also gives information and advice about remaining healthy andhelps immunize their children.
Just as everyone knows the 42-year-old tribal health worker, Anita too knows
almost every family. So, she does not hesitate even when she receives desperatecalls late at night. Such is her reputation for saving lives that she has never been
stopped or threatened by the Naxals so far. Her popularity among the community is
so high that when she was promoted and posted to a primary health centre inanother block, over 100 residents wrote a letter to the authorities to revoke hertransfer. This was the first time such a demand was made. Fortunately for thecommunity, Anita’s transfer was cancelled.
But it was not always like this. When Anita first started working as an ANM, she
faced some opposition from the community. It took her time to understand the workand gain the trust of the community. She also had to learn to cycle because thedistance between the health centre where she has to report every day is 12
kilometers from her home and each of the eight anganwadi centers are two to threekilometers apart.
Anita has also learnt how to give injections, drips and stop the bleeding of apregnant woman. She has even done mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of babies. Hercommitment to saving lives has made her a hero in the village. Earlier, she would
do deliveries at home. But now she encourages institutional deliveries. But if there
is no doctor or there is an emergency, Anita assists in home births and this is also
why pregnant women depend on her. In fact, the block faces irregular power supply

The 28th Foreign Correspondent Reportand it was because of Anita’s expertise that she was able to save both mother andchild in one such emergency with the help of torch light.
One of the issues that Anita has handled sensitively is raising awareness aboutfamily planning. Talking about contraception or advising women to plan theirfamilies is difficult in a state where women have little power of negotiation overtheir bodies. But Anita has adopted a good strategy. She advises pregnant women toeat nutritious food, rich in iron, so that their babies are healthy and they have safedeliveries. She tells them that this way there will be less neonatal and infantmortality and families will not need to have more children. Anita explains theadvantage of having smaller but healthier families and distributes oral
contraception pills. Though family sizes are still large, there is greater awarenessabout family planning today, she says.
This is also because she reiterates the message on the maternal and child healthday at the anganwadis. When pregnant women and children come to theanganwadis on this day, she discusses their health as she administers vaccines,
weighs the babies and treats them for minor ailments. This way, women do not feel
shy in speaking openly about their sexual and reproductive health issues.
After attending various training sessions to upgrade her skills, Anita is nowearning well and has bought her own cycle and a scooter. She has become an agentof change in the rural health scenario and has become an inspiration for girls andwomen in the community.
A happy mother with her healthy
children thanks to ANM Anita