Accidental Blogger

Progress Report for 2011 – 2012 _ Dr. Shiban Ganju, Founder of Save A Mother

SAM Activities for 2011-2012

• Last year was a turning point in the growth of Save A Mother. The program of maternal mortality reduction developed by Save A Mother (SAM) is being expanded by Mahila Vikas Parishad to 45 districts of UP with the funding from UNICEF and Melinda and Gates Foundation. SAM helped to launch this expansion and participated in 351 training sessions for new health workers, communities and public health officials.  
• 75 Health activists (Swasthya Sakhi) who had volunteered for SAM for last 4 years have been deputed as Community Health Trainers for the last one year under the UNICEF funded project.
• SAM will expand maternal mortality program to Gadag district in Karnataka in summer of 2012. The program will be funded by Deshpande Foundation. If more financial resources become available SAM may expand program to Kurkhshetra in Haryana, Ajmer in Rajasthan and Guna in MP.
• SAM has launched a TB eradication program in about 200 villages in Sultanpur area in UP. This program will be expanded to 1000 villages in next 3 years.
• SAM is helping to improve the operation of 16 rural health clinics which give free care to 1500 patients daily. These clinics are funded by Asia Heart Foundation. With the help of the doctors working in the clinics, SAM is launching a program to reduce water borne diseases by 80% in next four years.
• SAM has developed a software program to manage rural clinics and facilitate the work of public health workers in the field by giving them a GPRS phone application by which they can upload the field data and receive messages. The software will be in operation by the summer of 2012.
• Bangalore chapter of SAM is organizing a music concert by Alka Yagnik on 21 April to raise funds to expand work in Karnataka.

I am pleased to be part of Save A Mother (SAM) and its commendable work in reducing maternal and infant mortality in rural India. My association with the organization dates back to 2009 when I responded to Dr. Ganju's invitation urging me to become a volunteer with the Houston chapter, around the time he decided to take his outreach efforts beyond his hometown of Chicago. Since then I have met and worked with a dedicated and enthusiastic group of Houstonians who work year round to make possible the realization of the stated goals and objectives of SAM. As the report above explains and the title of this year's fundraiser suggests, the effort that began as Dr. Ganju's personal and modest mission in a village named Sultanpur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has expanded to benefit several more villages in UP and other states.

The 4^thannual fund-raising gala for Save A Mother in Houston is scheduled for May 4, 2012.The bulk of our fund raising is achieved through direct personal contact with individuals and businesses. The blog appeal is our way of reaching friends, family and generous strangers outside the Houston area who may find it simpler to donate on-line. The response to our previous fundraisers has been very generous so far. We hope to generate similar levels of support in 2012 both here on the blog as well as in the real world. This year I have set a goal of raising $3,000 on Accidental Blogger on behalf for SAM. If you wish to help, please use the ChipIn widget on the left side column of the page to make your contribution. Any amount you give is appreciated and will be put to good use. Thank you very much.

For more information on the mission of the organization see the message from the founder here and in the excellent video above, narrated by Dr. Ganju and Indian actors Shabana Azmi and Anupam Kher. More information is available at the Save A Mother website.

Note: I plan to keep this post at the top of the page for a while. Please scroll down to see new posts that appear during this period.

(If you don't see the ChipIn logo in its entirety, adjust the zoom level on your browser. Many thanks to Rahul Singhal for his help; he puts up with my technical ineptitude each year around this time.)