Nihal Vihar

I recently made a trip to one of the 10K Club intervention sites in Nihal Vihar which is an urban slum in West Delhi. The 10K Club has intervened in the area for nearly a year and the progress is clear in the smiles of the kids. It was an unbelievable and memorable full day experience. The community seemed quiet at first but as we began touring around, children started coming out of the woodwork. Some were more outgoing than others and were eager to be apart of the action. The children were high spirited and an absolute joy to be around!!

10K Club!

The government provides communities with ASHA, accredited social health activists, under the National Rural Health Mission. These women are selected from the village they live acting as the liaison between the community and the public health sector. The 10K Club utilizes these trained women in their communities for effective, sustainable health intervention. One of the ASHA in Nihal Vihar escorted us around the community and translated for us since no one spoke fluent English. However, those that knew a few select words were sure to use them!
 

The focus of the 10K Club is to improve maternal health and child health in marginalized communities. These goals are aligned with the UN Millennium Development Goals 4 (Child Health) and 5 (Maternal Health) in efforts to end poverty by 2015. Unless India achieves major improvements in health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and education, global efforts to reach the millennium development goals will fail. With India having the highest maternal and child mortality rate, with little sign of improving, increased non-government organization (NGO) efforts is vital.

smile

A family in Nihar Vihal

Anika showing the kids a video!

Here are a few of my favorites.....

Filling up with safe water

Beautiful

A few heart wrenching numbers in India....

• 1.7 million children will not celebrate their first birthday each year due to preventive illness
• Nearly 50% of children are not fully immunized 
• 25, 000 children die everyday from preventive diseases
• 136,000 women die every year from pregnancy related deaths
• 2/3 of women are married before the legal age of 18

While working in the MAMTA office we can lose sight of who our work is helping. It was nice to be reminded of what our work is doing and why I am here in the first place. I had an unforgettable time in Nihal Vihar and I hope to visit another intervention site soon!

much love 

10K Club Nihal Vihar