CASE STUDY: KARANERI VILLAGE

Karaneri is a small village located on the outskirts of Vellore, a district in Tamil Nadu. The village is situated 25 kms away from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. The Anganwadi centre was located in the village. There were four to five Aganwadi workers at the centre. A team of four including Devika Kishnan, Pooja, Camille Claeys and Asara Khan interacted with three NRHM workers. They seemed well at ease with their work mainly because these workers are from the same village where they are employed. This means that they know everybody in the village and this helps them to interact freely with the local people. Their tasks include the following: Maintaining registers regarding the health problems in the locality like the birth of newborns, number of pregnant women, who smokes and who drinks, death rates , diseases occurring among children etc. Doing the regular follow up of pregnant women regarding periodic checkups. Classifying the newborn based on their weight. If the baby is born with a weight less than 3kgs, then the women are asked to go to the hospital for further treatment. Providing proteins and nutrition through eggs and grams to the children depending upon their age. One egg per week is provided for children upto the age of 2 years. After 2 years, 3 eggs per week is provided to the children until the age of 13 years. Providing nutrition to pregnant women and children through syrup, vitamin supplements and nutritious food. Directing the local people to the centres for regular vaccination (polio, jaundice, bcg etc). The improvement has been that the number of compulsory vaccination has been increased from 3 to 5. The vaccination is administered by the nurses and not by the Anganwadi workers.

Work: The centre is located within the locality and they commute by walking. They are not given any incentives but are given leave on all national holidays.

They know everyone in the village which makes it easier for them to communicate to them. The local people are comfortable with them and tell them their troubles without hesitation. They attend regular meetings every month to discuss their agenda and progress as well as to put up any problems that they are facing. They wear a common uniform consisting of a blue saree.