Arivu – Awareness program - Prathama Foundation

According to census 2011, 2.68cr people as identified as persons with disability across different category as showed in the graph. More and more awareness needed to prevent incidence of disability.

Prevention is usually defined at three levels:

Primary Prevention – Action taken prior to the onset of the disease/disability, which will remove the possibility that a disease/disability will occur.

Secondary Prevention – Action, which halts the progress of the disease/disability at its incipient stage and prevents complications. The specific interventions are early diagnosis and adequate treatment.

Tertiary Prevention – All measures available to reduce or limit impairments and disabilities, and minimize suffering caused by existing disability. This phase is also called rehabilitation, which includes physical, psychosocial and vocational measures taken to restore the patient back to normal or near normal condition.

Prathama foundation takes active role in all three stages of prevention. ‘Arivu’ is an awareness program which was created to educate the general public, students, professionals, etc. regarding the disability and preventive measures. Prathama distributed handouts/flyers, conducted many awareness lectures at the level gram panchayaths, corporate offices, school and Community rehabilitation centers. Under ‘Arivu’ we conducted camps at urban and rural areas in and around Mysuru to reach the unreached; more than 1000 people benefitted by ‘Arivu’.

Some of the information to create an awareness is as follows;

It is extremely important that the women undertake adequate and effective preventive measures during their pregnancy and in the immediate postnatal period for their children. This significantly reduces the incidence of impairment and disabilities for the children. In this section, examples of easily understood primary preventive measures, for mother and child are summarized.

A. General Preventive Measures.

Marriage between very close blood relations like uncle, niece, first cousin should be avoided for prevention of hereditary disorders.
Avoid pregnancies before the age of 18 years and after the age of 35 years.
Consult a doctor before planning the pregnancy;
- Inform the doctors of previous incidences of birth defects in your family.
- If you have had difficulty in conceiving or have had a series of miscarriages, still births, twins, delivery by operation (Caesarean), obstructed labour/prolonged labour (more than 12 hours) and/or severe bleeding in previous pregnancy.
- If you have RH-negative blood type.
- If you have diabetes.

B. Care During Pregnancy

Avoid hard physical work such as carrying heavy loads, especially in fields, and other accident-prone activities such as walking on slippery ground or climbing stools and chairs.
Avoid unnecessary drugs and medications. Even the normally considered safe drugs which are sold commonly can potentially cause serious defects in an unborn child.
Avoid smoking, chewing tobacco, consuming alcohol and narcotics.
Avoid X-rays, and exposure to any kind of radiation.
Avoid exposure to illnesses like measles, mumps, etc. especially during the first 3 months of pregnancy.
Avoid sexual contact with a person having venereal disease.
Take precautions against lead poisoning.
Avoid too much use of ‘Surma’ and ‘Kohl’.
Eat a well-balanced and nourishing diet supplemented with green leafy vegetables, proteins and vitamins.
All women of the child bearing age need 0.4mg of folic acid daily (found in green leafy vegetables, fruits, etc.). This is also available in folic acid plus iron tablets, which should be taken for at least 3 months during the third trimester when the risk of developing iron deficiency i.e. anemia is greatest.
Ensure weight gain of atlest 10 kgs. Have routine medical checkups.
All pregnant women should be given tetanus injection.
Woman at ‘high- risk’ (whose weight is < 38 Kg, height is less than 152 cm, weight gain during pregnancy < 8mg), having frequent pregnancies, having a history of miscarriage/ abortion/premature deliveries, must get expert prenatal care so as to have a normal baby.
Must consult a doctor, in case of edema (swelling) of feet, persistent headache, fever, difficulty or pain in passing urine, bleeding from the vagina, and yellowness of eyes (jaundice).

C. Care at the time of birth

Delivery must be conducted by trained personnel, preferably in a hospital where all facilities are available.
If a baby does not cry immediately after birth, resuscitation measures should be undertaken at once.
Intensive care must be given for Babies born prematurely and with a low birth weight.