Karuna Trust with support from Population Foundation of India (PFI) implemented an innovative health project covering 14 primary health centres (PHCs) and outreach activities with marginalised population in 12 backward districts of Karnataka.

The intervention brought positive change in knowledge, attitude and practices of women on reproductive health and family planning. The Trust has pioneered and implemented a successful public-private-partnership model which could be scaled up.

The 12 districts are Bagalkot, Bellary, Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bijapur, Gadag, Darawad, Belgaum, Dayangere, Chamarajanagar and Uttara kannada. All the 14 PHCs are located in rural, hilly and remote areas where there are no basic facilities for health and livelihood. The areas have poor transport and education facilities.

Latest project data reveals that as a result of phase II of the family planning project between April 2012 to March 2015, 4451 young married women are now aware of the benefits of delaying first pregnancy as compared to 374 women at the time of starting the project. The number of women using spacing methods to delay first pregnancy has increased to 4329, in comparison to only 474 women earlier. Moreover, 5435 couples with one child are using spacing method, compared to only 532 during the baseline survey. During this time, 12 PHCs have received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification and 1 PHC have got National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare (NABH) accreditation. There was also an increased in institutional deliveries and immunisation of children in the PHCs. 7471 children have been fully immunised, as compared to 2055 during the baseline.

“The programme has been able to strengthen existing government PHCs in some of the most backward districts of Karnataka and make them into model centres, maximise utilisation of sub-centres for delivery of primary reproductive and child health (RCH) services and facilitate improved health-seeking behaviour in communities covered by the PHCs. This has empowered men and women to lead healthy, productive and fulfilling lives by exercising their right to regulate their own fertility through family planning services at the village level,” said Dr H Sudarshan, founder and honorary secretary of Karuna Trust.

Karuna Trust with technical support from PFI had earlier implemented phase-I of the project for 5 years from 2006 to 2011.  During this time, partnership was able to bring about positive changes in the management and functioning of the PHCs run by it to a considerable extent. An evaluation of the phase-I project done by the Institute of Health Management and Research (IHMR), Bengaluru revealed an increase of 67 per cent of institutional deliveries from baseline, a decrease from 77 to 11 per cent in home deliveries at end line, increase in safe delivery by 49 per cent from baseline, increase of home visits by health professional/ workers during the last 12 months by 11 per cent and increase in ANC by 5 per cent from baseline.

According to  Poonam Muttreja, executive director, Population Foundation of India, such initiatives and successful partnerships between the public and private sectors on essential RCH & primary health care must be scaled up to transform services in the country.