Providing Health Care to the Poor of India
The lady on the left could not walk when she came to the clinic. After treatment she is walking with help from Mrs. Pushpa Wesley, RN, and a walker. Right: Dr. S.K. Patil treats a 4-month-old in serious condition. $750 a month is needed to fund the clinics. . . a small investment to save lives and relieve suffering for so many! More
than two million children die in India every year from preventable
infections. Despite healthcare improvements over the last thirty
years, lives continue to be lost to early childhood diseases, inadequate
newborn care and childbirth-related causes. Infant mortality in
India is as high as 63 deaths per 1,000 live births. Most infant
deaths occur in the first month of life, up to 47 per cent in the
first week. Maternal deaths are also high because few women have
access to skilled birth attendants and fewer still to quality emergency
obstetric care. In addition, only 15 per cent of mothers receive
complete prenatal care and only 58 per cent receive iron or folate
tablets or syrup. Children in India continue to lose their lives
to vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, which remains
the biggest
killer. Tetanus in newborns remains a problem. |