HHF begins community health profiling in city

Shalibanda: After successfully starting health care centre at Majid-e-Ishaq in Nawab Sahab Kunta, which is registering an average of 60 to 75 patients per day, the Helping Hand Foundation (HHF) has now launched a community health profiling programme. As part of the study, treatment of wasted (low weight-for-height) and stunted (low height-for-age) children of urban slums will be provided, following a proper screening process from 22 urban slums in old city. Health profiling will be done and health cards will be issued for identification.

Trained health counsellors have already started a door-to-door program to collect data on the health status of adults, families, pregnant women and children of two age categories, (0-3) years and (3-15) years, in about 22 areas, including Nawab Sahab Kunta, Achi Reddy Nagar, Teegal Kunta, Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, to cover a population of between 1.5 and 2 lakh people, said Mujtaba Hasan Askari, president of Helping Hand Foundation.

According to Askari, the idea of creating the health profile for families with children is to issue health cards and identify if a member of the family is suffering from any disease. The card will give some basic information about the patients’ health status when they visit any medical center, he added. In family health profiling, pregnant women will be screened to check their ante natal status. Children who belong to two age groups (0-3) and (3-15) years will be screened at government schools, and counselors will look out for immunisation, stunting and wasting children. "About 54% of pregnant women in minorities are anemic as per Sudhir Commission Report, and the exact numbers of stunting and wasting children in minorities is not yet established," Askari said. After the health status of pregnant women and children, a counselling programme will be organised at the Community Health Centre at the Masjid-E-Ishaq in Nawab Sahab Kunta to counsel them on hygiene, nutrition.

Ante natal checkups for pregnant women and a nutritional supplements will also be provided to both women and children on regular basis, in the same way it is done at Aganwadis. "Around 350 health profiles have already been created of adults in one month, and about 50 pregnant women are now registered with HHF, and two schools with more than 200 students are being screened, and in the door-to-door program, around 65 patients have been linked to public health programs and HHF is also arranging transport facility, facilitating their free treatment in government hospitals like Osmania General Hospital and in area hospitals surrounding in slum areas," Askari explained.