SAHAYOG recognises that women’s health in India is severely affected by the lack of effective policies and appropriate services especially in the area of maternal health care, and for determinants of health. Through research, monitoring, case documentation, capacity-building, campaigns, and advocacy with policy makers and the media, the Maternal Health and Rights Programme seeks to make a change in the ground realities of maternal health in India.
SAHAYOG investigates the reasons behind poor maternal health indicators and experiences, engages in advocacy to hold the government accountable for creating and implementing effective maternal health policies, and builds the capacity of underserved and marginalised women to campaign for their rights to accessible and accountable quality maternal health services and entitlements such as nutrition, social security, livelihoods, personal safety, sanitation and safe water.
Objectives
- Increasing the ‘voice’ of marginalised women in priority-setting for health planning, in programme monitoring and in demanding accountability for their right to health, in collaboration with partners in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India
- Informing local and national policy makers and other stakeholders including the media about the perspectives and experiences of poor women vis-à-vis health systems
- Advocating locally and nationally through civil society platforms for the formal recognition of reproductive rights, nutrition and other determinants of health as a part of women’s rights to health