Mobilisation of women’s groups for child injury prevention in Nepal

Pant, Puspa Raj; Towner, Elizabeth; Ellis, Matthew; Pilkington, Paul

Abstract

Background: Childhood injuries are a neglected problem in Nepal. Injuries were the cause of 13% of deaths occurred to 1-4 year children in Nepal and one-third of all illnesses to children under 18 years caused by injuries. Over half of all injuries took place at home. Existing child survival programmes mainly focus on infant and under 5 year child health. Health promotion including safety promotion issue is not yet recognised in the national health policy. Injuries among children could be prevented using local networks of females using simple educational interventions. Methods: The existing structure of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) can be used as resource persons to disseminate simple injury prevention messages. There are nine FCHVs in a village development committee (VDC), the lowest administrative unit of the country. FCHVs have played a vital role in dissemination information about family planning, safer motherhood, immunisation, nutrition and control of diarrhoeal diseases. FCHVs conduct regular meeting with mothers' groups in their communities to disseminate health information. A qualitative study conducted in Makwanpur district revealed that FCHVs are ready to facilitate childhood injury prevention activities, mainly through information dissemination. Therefore, a pilot study is designed to conduct awareness raising activities to conduct in two VDCs of Makwanpur district. Training materials will be developed in consultation with- and implemented in regular mothers' group meetings by- the FCHVs in the study VDCs. Local neighbourhood safety groups will be formed in the leadership of the mothers' group members. A system of record keeping will be developed to keep track of the child injuries in the project VDCs.
Outcomes:
 Mothers' group education materials prepared and implemented
 Mothers' knowledge about child injuries increased
 Fatal and non-fatal child injuries reduced
 Ongoing surveillance at community level is established
Conclusion: A community-based child injury prevention programme using local resources is feasible and acceptable in Makwanpur district

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: 21st IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion
• Start Date: Aug 25, 2013
• End Date: Aug 29, 2013
• Publication Date: Aug 25, 2013
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: women, child injury prevention, Nepal
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/928971
• Publisher URL: http://www.iuhpe.org/index.php/en/conferences
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : 21st IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion