As part of the extension activities with the NSS students of National College, Bandra, Population First was invited to Pingori in Pune district to address issues of women’s health in the village. A two-day trip was organised in which a session each on reproductive and child health (RCH) for the women, micro-planning and adolescent and reproductive sexual health (ARSH) for adolescent girls were conducted by the Population First team. The sessions were held on January 8 and 9, 2006.
The RCH training session was attended by over 40 women. A meeting with the various stakeholder groups of the village like members of the gram panchayat, gramsevak and anganwadi and school teachers was then held to discuss the reproductive health of the village women. A micro-planning exercise was also conducted to identify the existing problems and to prepare an action plan for the women regarding their health.
The session on ARSH threw up many questions on common myths regarding menstruation and guidance on how to tackle these misconceptions. The sessions seemed to be eye-openers for both the villagers and for us at Population First about the lack of knowledge on these issues. Observes Pradnya Shinde, programme executive, Population First, “For the first time, these women were sitting in the same group as men and openly talking about these things.”
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