Health Promotion

• ♦ MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity (M-RITE)
• ♦ Tobacco Control Project
• ♦ Risk Management and Prevention of Antibiotics Resistance - Prevent It
• ♦ Basic Orientation on Child Mental Health – ECHO India
• ♦ Community Health: Health Camp in Bishalgarh
• ♦ Adolescents’ Mental Health: Understanding Identification Resolution
• ♦ Health Infrastructure Study & Capacity Enhancement on Immunization

Community Mobilization, Lowertilla, Unakoti District

Community Mobilization, Partnership with Faith Based Organizations, West Tripura District

MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity (M-RITE)

With support from JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), the MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation & Equity (M-RITE) Project was assigned to Voluntary Health Association of Tripura in December 2021...

Objectives:

Objective A: Enhance Vaccine Accessibility
• Support development of micro plan in poor performing areas for improving vaccination service delivery and coverage.
• Ensure vaccination services in underserved areas and put efforts to strengthen the community outreach programs and enhance community mobilization.
• Support state government in administration of new procured COVID-19 vaccine (as per the state's request and vaccine availability).
Objective B: Improve Vaccine Awareness
• Put efforts towards educating the population about the importance of vaccination, addressing misconceptions and promoting trust in vaccines.
• Engage community leaders, healthcare providers, CBOS and influencers to act as vaccine advocates and address language barriers, cultural sensitivities, and other factors influencing vaccine hesitancy or low uptake.
Objective C: Support in capacity building efforts of government
• Need based training of health workforce and frontline workers on the overall vaccination services.
• Support in enhancing the digital systems and tools for efficient vaccine registration and appointment scheduling.
Objective D: Leverage COVID-19 vaccination learning
• Collaborate with multiple stakeholders viz. health authorities, key government departments, youth groups , faith-based leaders & empowering them to advocate for increased COVID-19 vaccination and Routine Immunization , foster sense of ownership and participation of communities.
• Improve engagement at state level government meetings and share knowledge and best practices for effective distribution of resources among the states.

Activities:

Based on Covid 19 learning and experience the activities were designed and conducted in Routine Immunization (RI).

• Community Consultation on Routine Immunization to make the community understand the importance of getting vaccination on time. 26 community consultations were arranged in this regard from April 1st to October 2023.
• Focus Group Discussion (FGD) cum Vaccination Camp for Routine Immunization coverage: Till October 2023, 16 Focus Group Discussions cum Vaccination Camps were conducted. 629 doses were administered.
• Eight Advocacy Meeting with Stake Holders were conducted for better understanding of the problems in field level with the stakeholders. The meeting between the project and stake holders enhanced the chances of improvement to reach the last mile of vaccination in the communities.
• Twleve Coordination Meeting with Frontline Health Workers strengthened the bond among the health department and project.
• Special days were observed with the discussion of vaccination and arrangement of vaccination camps to support the health department. 10 special days (e.g. World Tobacco Day) in 3 places, World Breast Feeding Week, International Day of World's Indigenous People's were celebrated from April 2023 to October 2023.
• District Level Review Meetings(3) were organized for the review of the project in the districts. It involves with health department and stake holder. The meeting is to know the problems from grass root level to district level and how to resolve those problems to get the result of better vaccination.
• 47 Community Mobilization Activities for enhancement of vaccination coverage were organized for the mass awareness of the community and vaccinate people to resolve the problems regarding the fear of vaccination in the unvaccinated areas through miking, vaccination camps, mobility support for immunization team, mothers’ meetings, community advocacy meeting, street drama, partnership with FBOs to mobilize the people from remote areas for vaccination.
• Felicitation of 62 Vaccinators to encourage them for strengthening the partnership between the project and the Health Department.
• Transportation for vulnerable community from the hard-to-reach areas as per vaccination schedule in four areas.
• Special vaccination camps in priority blocks - hard to reach areas where the people are facing the problems regarding transportation, sufficient health care system and poor lifestyle choices. 3 camps were conducted till October 2023 and 133 doses of vaccines were administered.
• Felicitation-Incentive for PRIs, GPs, SHGs : This was to the establishment of trust, support and coordination among grassroot level, health department and the project. This was also to encourage the community leaders to help and support the communities with the coordination, transparency with the health department and the project. 13 PRI members were felicitated.
• Door to door mobilization to aware the people about the vaccination regarding Routine Immunization and COVID-19 vaccine.


Special Vaccination Camp in priority blocks, Sabar Para,West Tripura



Community Mobilization, Partnership with Faith Based Organizations, West Tripura District



Advocacy meeting with the community in Debram Thakur Para, West Tripura



Community Mobilization, Street drama in Hrishi para, West Tripura

BASIC ORIENTATION ON CHILD MENTAL HEALTH IN COLLABORATION WITH ECHO INDIA

VHAT is a partner of ECHO India since December 2022. ECHO India is a not-for-profit organization working with Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) towards building capacity in the areas of healthcare, education, and others and bringing equity through capacity building of healthcare practitioners and educators. ECHO’s ‘Hub and Spoke’ Model of learning; the hub being a group of experts who regularly mentor the learners (spokes); uses a cutting-edge digital infrastructure, called iECHO to enable capacity building at speed and scale in a sustainable and cost-effective way. ECHO model breaks the walls between specialty and primary care. Together, the primary clinicians and specialists participate in virtual sessions supported by TELE- conferencing technology.

ECHO India Virtual Immersion on 21 and 22 February 2023: Four person from VHAT were selected & got the orientation on the ECHO model.

After that a series of virtual orientation meetings were organized by VHAT on ‘Child Counselling’.

The Sessions -

1. Child Counselling: A child counselling session(virtual) was held in 04-08-2023 conducted by Ms.Sanghamitra Kar (Psychologist, Anwesha Children Home) and facilitated by Mr. Febin P Mathew (Senior Executive of ECHO India). Discussion of this session was- “what is counselling, what are the basic needs of a child, what is the process of counselling, and what are the things to know that child needs counselling”. A case story was represented by Ms. Tanushree Dey (Social Worker of Anwesha children home for girls). All volunteers of the Anwesha Home, ManoramaShishuNiketan, Unmesh Children home for Boys, and Niljyoti Sevashram Boys Home attended this session.
2. Psychotherapy for children and adolescents: On 25-08-2023, this session was conducted by Dr. Anup Kumar Debnath (Psychiatrist, Modern Psychiatric Hospital) which was facilitate Mr. Joydeep Bhushan (Project Coordinator of ECHO India). Discussion was about adolescence period, the hazards of this period, different types of psychotherapy for children and adolescents , type of therapy we used for different psychological problem of this period. A case story was presented by Ms. Sumita Dey (Social Worker of Anwesha Open shelter for girls). 21 participants attended this meeting.
3. Child Development Basics: On 08-09-2023 this session was conducted by Dr.Joysree Das (Clinical Psychologist) on the topic of Child Development. Ms.Pinakshi Banik (Hub team member of ECHO India) was the facilitator. Topics were - five basics of child development, basic stages of child development, parenting skills. Expert also discussed about the ADHD among children . Mr. Prasenjit Chakraborty (Social Worker of Anwesha open shelter for boys) was one of the speakers on the topic.. 21 participants attended this meeting.
4. Child Safeguarding: This session was conducted and facilitated by Dr. Gowthavaram Chengala Kavitha (positive Psychologist, psychotherapist) &Mr. Febin P Mathew (Senior Executive) on 22-09-2023. Discussion of this session was on the child safeguarding, difference between child safeguarding and child protection, importance of child safeguarding , 5 R’S of safeguarding i.e. Recognize, Respond, Report, Record, Review. Alivia Naha (Superintendent of Manorama Shishu Niketan) , all social workers, counsellors, and volunteers attended this session. 24 participants attended this meeting.
5. Preventing child abuse and neglect: On 7th October 2023, this was conducted by Dr. Anjana Bhattacharjee (Associate professor, Tripura University) and facilitated byMs. Sanghamitra Kar. Many things were discussed about the child abuse and neglect by the expert . Mithun Dutta (Social worker of Unmesh Children home for Boys) presented a case story in this session by online mode.
6. Role of Volunteers in child development in CCI: Dr. Mythili Hazarika (Associate Professor of GMCH) was the expert of this session on 18-10-2023 . It was facilitated by Ms. Pinakshi Banik. The expert discussed about the role of volunteers in development of a child, different types of intelligence test like(Binet-Simon Test, Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, positive parenting skill development among the caregivers, the duties and responsibilities of volunteers. Keya Bhowmik (Social worker of Manorama Shishu Niketan) shared a case story in this session.
7. Resource Persons for these sessions : Dr. Anup Kumar Debnath (Psychiatrist, Modern Psychiatric Hospital); Dr.Joysree Das (Clinical Psychologist); Ms.Sanghamitra Kar (Psychologist, Anwesha Children Home); Dr. Gowthavaram Chengala Kavitha (positive Psychologist, psychotherapist); Dr. Anjana Bhattacharjee (Associate professor, Tripura University); Dr. Mythili Hazarika (Associate Professor of GMCH).
8. Timing-3:00pm-4:00pm in all the sessions.
KEY LEARNING:- Participants learnt many things from these sessions,e.g. different stages of child development, the role of volunteers in child development, child counseling methods , dealing with children in different situation , resolving conflict, understand children’s thoughts and feelings, thinking of new solutions to their daily problems, about child abuse , how to prevent child abuse and neglect, and different psychotherapy for children and adolescents.

COMMUNITY HEALTH PROMOTION THROUGH HEALTH CAMP

On 14th October , 2023 one community health camp was organized for screening & treatment of diabetes and heart diseases in Bishalgarh Town Hall. Another objective was to create awareness about bad effects of tobacco uses, its consequences on different organs of the body. Two specialist doctors –Dr Kunal Sarkar , Heart Surgeon, Dr. Uttiya Gupta, Diabetologist from Medica Super Speciality Hospital,Kolkata were present in the camp. Both the Specialist Doctors discussed on the prevention of heart diseases and diabetes . After the screening they also treated 70 patients. As Guests Dr. Jyotirmoy Das, SDMO and Mr. Anjan Purokayastha , Chairperson of Bishalgarh Municipal Council were present in the camp.





Dr Kunal Sarkar in discussion with a patient in Health Camp



Dr. Uttiya Gupta in the health camp



BP check up in the camp

ADOLESCENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH: UNDERSTANDING-IDENTIFICATION-RESOLUTION

First Training was organized for the children of above 10 years of age , 50 from Anwesha Children Home for Girls and 20 children from Anwesha Open Shelter for Boys separately on 16th&17th September, 2023 in the training hall of the Home.

1^st Day :

• The importance of young people in society and protecting their mental health so that they can play a social role by helping adults mentally and physically.
• What are the changes occur in adolescent period (physical and psychological changes)social, emotional, moral and cognitive development.
• Different stages of our mind (conscious, unconscious and subconscious mind) and function of these stage. Children were attentively listening the discussion and then they interacted with the expert.
• Different types of mental disorder in adolescence period, like depression, anxiety disorder, personality disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder. The role of counseling, some techniques and tips which we follow in regular life for our better life style.

2^nd Day :

• Different past event that were repressed in our mind and were not good for our mind. These were the cause of different mental disorders. So we need to share these things with others .
• How we can develop our concentration level - by rehearsal, and develop our writing skill that help us to upgrade our concentration level. Different functions of brain and how we keep our brain healthy:- we need proper nutrition, to do all things step by step , problem solving technique etc. At last he discussed about how we control our anger, there are 3 A that means (avoid, alter adopt and accept) and demonstrated an exercise i.e. press both hand tightly for 4 to 5 min)
• Defense mechanism- is a psychological operation that function to protect a person form anxiety , producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and other stressors, Sometimes we blame others or situations to defend ourselves.

After the session, Dr. Dipayan Sarkar recommended us that if we face any problem with any child about mental health, and any other psychological issues or if we feel that counseling is not working with them we should communicate with him. He also told about the facilities of Tele MANAS.

Dr.Dipayan Sarkar conducting the session on Adolescents ‘Mental Health

During the training with CCI Staff in Conference Hall of Directorate of SW&SE, Gov of Tripura

Second training where the Superintendents, Caseworkers and Care Givers of all CCIs of West Tripura, one CCI of Sepahijala & one CCI of South Tripura district were the participants (44 in no). Venue was Conference Hall in the Directorate of Social Welfare & social Education (Malancha).

Facilitators were - Dr.Santanu Ghosh,Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Tripura Medical College , Dr. Kaushik Nandi, Psychiatrist, Modern Psychiatric Hospital,Dr Sreelekha Ray, VHAT.

The training was inaugurated by Smt. Smitha Mol M. S., IAS, Director of Social Welfare and Social Education, Gov of Tripura, at 11.15 A.M.

First topic was on ‘Common Mental Health difficulties and psychiatric disorders among Adolescents”. Dr Sreelekha Ray discussed this topic in detail, with the PPT from 11.30 a m to 12.30 p. m. Then Dr.Santanu Ghosh discussed on “Identification of Mental Health problems of Adolescents and therapy to keep up the mental well-being”.Dr.Ghosh focused on the issue of drug addiction among the adolescent population of the state. Symptoms of drug addiction includes the followings -

Precautions:

OBSERVATION OF WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

This day was observed in Anwesha Home with 65 children and 30 staff on10th October ,2023 Resource Persons :- Dr. Chaitali Malakar (Psychiatrist of Modern Psychiatric Hospital), Ms. Nabanita Deb ( Social worker of Modern Psychiatric Hospital)

Dr.Dipayan Sarkar conducting the session on Adolescents ‘Mental Health

HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY & CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT ON IMMUNIZATION

This was CAC(Community Action Collab) initiative in coordination with VHA Tripura, mainly aimed to do a survey of the availability and requirement of equipments in various UPHCs, PHCs & CHCs under West Tripura District covering 3 hospitals & 27 UPHCs/PHCs/CHCs.

HospitalsGBP Hospital, IGM Hospital, Tripura Medical College, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Teaching Hospital

UPHCs/PHCs/CHCs: Ashrampara UPHC, Agartala Puranigam UPHC, Madhya Pratapgarh UPHC, Nandanagar UPHC, Pashchim Bhubanban UPHC, East Jogendranagar UPHC, Bhati Abhoynagar UPHC, Anandanagar PHC, Kanchanmala PHC, Ranirbazar PHC, Jirania CHC, Champaknagar PHC, Kherengbar CHC, Mandwi PHC, Borakha PHC, Hezamara PHC, Mohanpur CHC, Katlamara PHC, Chachubazar PHC, Gandhi gram PHC, Narsingarh PHC, Bamutia PHC, BDM PHC (Lefunga).

Inauguration of TOT

Community Leaders Training

Village Level Meeting at Viveknagar, Dukli Block

Activities :

• Project staff visited the community institutions like Panchayat, CSO, Clubs etc. for organizing meeting & workshop.
• State Level Meetings with Officials of Health Directorate, Hospitals, UPHC, PHC & CHC. We organized two state level orientation meetings on - 19th April 2023 and 30th Sept 2023 with the Nodal Officers on “Barriers of Hesitancy among Community towards Vaccination” .
• Collection of data about availability and requirement of equipments from 27 health centers including Hospitals, UPHC, PHCs & CHCs
• Village level Orientation & Trainings were conducted with Community Leaders and Champions on “Importance of Vaccination & Hesitancy on Vaccination” to accelerate the Routine Immunization (RI) program.
• We have organized total 30 Village Level Awareness Meetings on “Importance of RI + Adult Vaccination”

Other activity: