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NEEDS' intervention in health is based on its understanding that maternal and child health concerns are at the root of the vicious cycle of poverty that restrains communities from realising their potential. The organisation’s health intervention is entered around women – who it considers the backbone of the community  and around children, its future. Adolescent health is also considered as one of the focus area as need of this age group primarily ignored till date. The thrust of its work is on building convergence and linkages with the State health delivery system, motivating and capacitating them to serve people better. At the same time, NEEDS facilitates strengthening the voice of the community to demand quality medical services from the government machinery. This multi-pronged approach is implemented by cluster coordination committees comprising self-help group leaders, social workers, youth and adolescent representatives and government health functionaries.

NEEDS is working on the issues of Safe Motherhood and child survival with the goal of catalyzing sustainable improvement of maternal and newborn health status through effective community action.

• To build up capacity of NEEDS health team for programme quality improvements

• Reduce prevalence of malnutrition of children U5 to less than 10%

• Develop monitoring system with village level database in Child growth, FP/contraceptives, Immunization, ANC and INC issues

• Develop village level health cadets skilled in 4 critical health services – Safe motherhood, child health monitoring, Diarrhea prevention and management, health service entitlements of individual.

• Continuation of education and nutrition management of pregnant, lactating mothers and children under five.

• In this phase stress on development of MIS and M&E system is given to generate village level data base through a critical mass of community advocates like volunteers, village health committee members, women and youth leaders.

Activities Undertaken:

• Creating prototype models of service deliver involving

• Capacity building of community level institutions formed

• Involvement of Mahila Mandals in child growth monitoring and survival has led to increased awareness among communities regarding mother & child health care 7 survival issues

• Accelerate Government Health Service Delivery- through community based advocacy

•  Capacity building of health team/ community based health service providers

• Develop access to health services by marginalized through micro insurance facilities focusing on RH issues

• Integration of HVI/AIDS with regular RCH program

Empowerment of adolescents is focused through their life skill enhancement and creation of teen centres. DISHA is attempting in developing a regional policy document for which some 28 workshops are conducted and 717 adolescents are consulted. On the basis of this knowledge base the group has developed a ILS [internal learning system module] for the knowledge transfer and knowledge assessment of the adolescent. ILS is a total pictorial module even to be utilized with any language and illiterate groups or individuals. That the adolescents need a special attention, guidance and environment to grow and develop into healthy human beings so that they are empowered to take decisions about their life including reproductive health related decisions.

• Monitoring of projects and programs through peer group efforts and in a social auditing process in which community shall be involved

• Help NGOs of Deoghar district to work in a consortia mode for effective results and creating impact on ARSH at district level

Major components of interventions include the following

• Promoting teen circles of girls and boys

• Develop peer educators to combat myths and misconception on RSH issues

• Educate 10-19 age group in reproductive sexual health through school interventions ate at community level interventions for non school going adolescents

• HIV/AIDS education and awareness campaign focusing on youth and migrant community, beside adolescents

• Sensitize religious leaders and other opinion makers over the issues of RSH and ARSH

• Contraceptive education including the issues of safe sex and fertility control

• Adolescents basic health and hygiene, genital hygiene and sanitation issues

• Santhalpargana require an intensive intervention in ARSH issues to build up ARSH environments at large scale, our initial intervention of 3 years have been found successful for scaling up such interventions