International Village Clinic

Project: International Village Clinic (IVC)
Location: Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh
Category: Health Care

The International Village Clinic is located in one of the most backward districts of Uttar Pradesh. This district, which has a high maternal and infant mortality rate and many malnourished residents, offers very poor health care services. IDS has supported this project since 2010 by providing $5,000 per year.

The project began by providing basic health care to some of the small villages around the Chandauli District; it has since expanded its work to over 60 villages, providing services to more than 150,000 people. These services include:

–Nutritional support to pregnant women and children: The IVC has provided nutritional services to more than 600 pregnant women, a 200% increase within the last two years. The cost of nutritional supplementation for a woman during pregnancy is approximately $21 per year; for a child, it is $6 per year.

–Vaccinations

–Cataract surgeries

–Health education and family planning: The IVC has visited 7,500 women of child-bear­ing age on a bi-monthly basis throughout the year to conduct one-to-one meetings, build relationships, and provide family planning and counseling services. During this year, they have distributed more than 100,000 condoms and more than 200,000 birth control pills. They also helped 390 women get tubal ligations.

–Vaccination and disease prevention services at eight kindergarten schools

–Construction of toilets for fourteen local schools: Toilets for ten new schools are planned for the coming year. Many girls over age 12 drop out of school due to the lack of toilet facilities on school premises. This project is expected to significantly reduce girls’ dropout rates.

–Continuation of the scholarship program

The International Village Clinic is facing challenges—a shortage of trained gynecologists, pediatricians, and support staff—and is appeal­ing to volunteers to come and work at the IVC hospital and clinic.

 –2014 IDS annual report

International Village Clinic (IVC) works to provide health care in the Uttar Pradesh region of northern India. IVC employs skilled medical personnel in an area where illiteracy and disease are rampant. With IDS support, IVC’s preventive health care program is able to provide nutritional supplements to pregnant women and children up to 5 years of age, vaccinations for all citizens, health education, and family planning.

IVC added twelve new villages to the program, increasing the total number being served from 36 to 48 villages. Six new kindergarten schools were added to the prevention program, and 2227 children received nutritional supplements and vaccinations, an increase of more than 600 since 2011. The number of women receiving prenatal care, nutritional supplementation, and vaccinations has doubled since 2011; in addition, IVC conducted well over a hundred more health education seminars in 36 villages.

The family planning program increased significantly again this year, with IVC making one-on-one visits to 7783 pregnant women on a bimonthly rotating basis throughout the year to build rapport and provide family planning consultations. This was an increase of 7097 women compared with the number visited in 2011.

In 2012–13, over 120,000 people in 48 villages across Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh received preventive healthcare services. The preventive program supports the ongoing wellness of its participants through vaccinations, nutrition, education, childbirth services, and family planning. International Village Clinic is currently serving 48 villages and projects expansion to 100 villages in the next few years.

–2013 IDS annual report