Rajasthan White Ribbon Alliance

Rajasthan is among the states having High Maternal and Neonatal Mortality. ‘SUMA’ Rajasthan White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood was launched  in 2002 to create social awareness and work towards action and advocacy for reduction of high maternal and neonatal mortality in the state .  CHETNA is secretariat of  SUMA  since 2002. This Alliance is formed of Civil Society Organisations  and UN agencies, International NGOs, Government Departments and individuals are special invitees to the alliance.

Some of the major achievements and contributions of SUMA since 2002 are as follows:

  • Facilitated the development of state action plan and organised the National Safe Motherhood Day in the State of Rajasthan this included activities such as community-level meetings in collaboration with the local health departments, production of health communication materials, fairs and rallies and health  camps, etc.
  • Organised state-level consultation meetings on subjects such as Panchayati Raj and Safe Motherhood, role of dais in safe homebirths and safe motherhood issues in the desert region.
  • Facilitated the participation of partners in the International Safe Motherhood Conference held in New Delhi in October 2002. The purpose was to provide an opportunity to field based organisations to share their experiences of implementing safe motherhood programs and to learn about the practices that have worked worldwide, to reduce maternal mortality.
  • Built capacities of NGO representatives for implementing evidence-based practices and sensitised them on the need to make programmatic changes so as to save women’s and newborns’ lives.
  • Translated the “Saving Mother’s Lives: What Works – Best Practice Field Guide” into Hindi.
  • Mobilised communities on maternal health entitlements in five districts
  • Organised public hearings on maternal health
  • Organised state level consultations on maternal health
  • Mainstreamed tools for Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) for ASHA-Sahyoginis in the state of Rajasthan
  • Implemented Operations Research on BPCR in 10 villages of Osian Block, Jodhpur District