NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MATERNAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS

NAMHHR E-Newsletter
Double Issue-10-11 (Sept 2013- April 2014)
Godda Report Recommendations

Inter departmental
convergence
At health facilities in tribal areas
make special efforts to employ
adequately trained staffs
sensitive to tribal culture and
practices, provide blood
transfusion services and make
special efforts to engage PVTG
nurses health personal who
speak local language .

Re- orientation of community

and facility health providers.
Integration of health care with
the nutrition services
Community monitoring and
accountability by strengthening
the capacity of members of the
Village Health Sanitation and
Nutritional Committees .

Recent highlights of NAMHHR activities

NAMHHR conducted a national convention on 20th and 21st of March
2014 in Delhi. More than 100 representatives from all over India
participated and themes related to maternal death were presented in
the convention . Please
read the blog update here:
http://namhhr.blogspot.in/2014/06/national-convention-on-maternalhealth.html
NAMHHR organized a second civil society meeting to Review Maternal
Mortality and Morbidity in Jharkhand on the 20 th of Nov 2013. It was
attended by 20 participants from civil society organizations to discuss
maternal mortality in Jharkhand. Following this , NAMHHR conducted a
fact finding mission to Godda district, Jharkhand to develop a greater
understanding of the condition of maternal health and the impact of
related social determinants of health in tribal areas of Godda district on
the 21st and 22nd of Nov 2013. Within this, meetings were held with the
Minister of Health, Jharkhand (23 Nov), the Director Health Services (20
Nov), and the Civil Surgeon Godda (22 Nov). The report was completed
and shared with the Government of Jharkhand on 17th February 2014.

Engagement with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and

UPR-2 process
NAMHHR member attended a training on using the process of Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) organized by DFPA, held in Geneva from 20-22 of
October 2013 during which a tentative plan regarding NAMHHRs
engagement in the UPR-2 was developed.
NAMHHR worked with the National Human Rights Commission to develop
a framework of Monitoring Indicators to track Indias compliance with the
comments received during UPR-2 in which NAMHHR contributed to the
sections on sexual and reproductive health rights and the right to health
http://nhrc.nic.in/Documents/Reports/Final%20Framework%20for%20UP
R%20Process%2021_10_2013.pdf

NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MATERNAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS

NAMHHR E-Newsletter
Issue-10- 11 (Sept 2013- April 2014)
Alliance Building Efforts
NAMHHR NATIONAL CONVENTION

NAMHHR became a formal member of

the Right to Food Campaign during its
National Convention.
NAMHHR worked with the Right to Food
campaign, Mobile Crches and other
womens organizations for a common
advocacy agenda in the context of
womens unpaid work and the right to
maternity benefits. With regard to this,
NAMHHR Convenor attended the Right to
Food Campaign in National Convention in
March 2014 and anchored a workshop on
Maternity Benefits towards drafting
model Rules within the National Food
Security Act 2013.
NAMHHR Secretariat has been attending
JSA-Delhi meetings to prepare a list of
demands to be submitted to the political
parties in the run up to the Election in
Delhi held on 4th Dec 2013.
NAMHHR participated in Independent
Peoples Tribunal on the Functioning of
the National Human Rights Commission of
India, organized by Human Rights Law
Network, held in JNU on 1416th December 2013.
NAMHHR was invited by Oxfam for
Odisha State Consultation on Maternal
Death Review held in Bhubaneswar
(Odisha) on 9-10th of December 2013.

Recommendations/Endorsements
NAMHHR sent suggestions on the Draft Rules under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and
their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 on 15th November 2013.
NAMHHR sent Recommendations to the Advisory Group for MNREGA, (set up by MoRD) and suggested
amendments regarding provision of Maternity Benefits in Schedule II on 5th December 2013.
NAMHHR sent a letter to the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India to highlight the issues of
poor availability of blood transfusion for rural India.
NAMHHR made submissions to High Level Committee which has been constituted by the
PMO(IDNo.560/51/C/15/2012) on the socio- economic, health and educational status of tribal communities of
India on 31st of December.
NAMHHR sent recommendations for Odisha State Policy for Girl Child and Women Health and Well-being on 6th of
December 2013.

NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MATERNAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS

NAMHHR E-Newsletter
Issue-10- 11 (Sept 2013- April 2014)

Maternal Death Review project Updates

The Tool for the MDR has been revised
with the help of Dr. Abhijit Das and it
has been sent to Dr Himanshu
Bhushan, Deputy Commissioner of
Maternal Health, Government of India
for the suggestions.

developing a MDR module for block

level orientation of front line health
workers like ANM and ASHA to
encourage and inform them about
importance of reporting maternal
deaths. To enable this , a group of
three people including two from
SAHAYOG and one from partner
organization ASHA visited ARTH in
Udaipur and studied their project on
community based- MDR in 10 districts
of Rajasthan under UNFA Project in
2011.

Formation of state advisory groups

(including government officials) in all
four partner states

New Resources on Maternal Health and Rights

1. The Second Report of the Independent Expert Review

Group on Information and Accountability for Women's and
Children's Health, 2013 Strengthening Equity and Dignity
Through health
http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/news/2013/ierg_report
/en/.
2. The National Human Rights Commission has asked the
Rajasthan government to pay Rs. 50,000 to a woman who
was forced to give birth to her child by the roadside
because of medical negligence at Kareda in Bhilwara district
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nhrcorders-compensation-for-roadsidebirth/article5924407.ece
3. The study "An Analysis of Factors Linked to the Decline in
Maternal Mortality in Nepal" has revealed important
upward trends in the use of delivery and antenatal services
between 1996 and 2011 in Nepal, corroborating the
findings in earlier and, importantly, indicating that the
improvement is continuing studies. full paper at
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2
Fjournal.pone.0093029
4. WHO released a document on Declining MMR from 1990's.
The document is titled : Trends in Maternal Mortality 1990
to 2013. Read full document here :
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/mo
nitoring/maternal-mortality2013/en/
5. The Down to Earth article on maternal mortality with a
comparison of southern and northern states . It reports
about the National convention organized by NAMHHR in
Delhi on march 20th and 21st .
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/delivering-safety

NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MATERNAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS

NAMHHR E-Newsletter
Issue-10- 11 (Sept 2013- April 2014)

NAMHHR Activities
NAMHHR SC members had a meeting on 22nd March 2014 in Delhi. They reviewed the National Convention
that was held in Delhi on 20th and 21st March and there was also a discussion on NAMHHR TOR.
NAMHHR had a General Body Meeting on 27 28 November 2013 in Delhi. The meeting reviewed the
activities that have been carried out by NAMHHR in the last two years and brainstormed on strategies that
could be used in the coming two years.
NAMHHR organized a fourth capacity building workshop with the objective of developing analytical skills of
the participants on maternal deaths documented under the guidance of Dr. Subha Sri from CommonHealth
on 18-19th Oct 2013 in Delhi.

Upcoming Events
1. MDR State Advisory group meetings are being conducted in different states (May and June)
2. NAMHHR will organise a meeting on "Human rights based approaches for preventing maternal mortality"
on 24th of June 2014 in Delhi.
3. A meeting will be organised in the Santhal Paragans Division of Jharkhand with the NAMHHR members

and other CSOs working in the area, to discuss advocacy and actions based on findings from the Godda
fact finding mission.

Write to us at: namhhr.india@gmail.com

Visit us at: http://namhhr.blogspot.in