Rural Sensitisation Initiative

15th, 16th, 17th March 2024 Chandankiyari, Bokaro, Jharkhand This is an opportunity for young medicos to re-discover and reconnect with rural India, look outside the mainstream perspectives of health, and realize the disparity that exists within the same country!

The ‘Rural Sensitisation Initiative’ is an experiential learning during the course of a three day camp. Mainstream medical and health professionals’ education does not provide opportunities for students to experience actual contexts in which health care is practiced in rural India. There is a mismatch between the settings where education takes place, and where health work is much needed. There have been many experiments and successes across the country in the NGO sector and government settings in providing health delivery systems that engage actively with the local context. The RSI has emerged from several successful ‘Rural Sensitisation Programmes’ organised by the NGO ‘Rural Health Initiatives’ in Sittilingi, Tamil Nadu (https://tribalhealth.org/). This is first time such an initiative is being organised in northern India, and is being hosted by ‘Jan Chetna Manch, Bokaro’ (https://www.janchetnamanch.org/). You will be exposed to the work of a rural women’s health programme, see their community health work, which includes their health centre – the ‘Chetna Mahila Swasthya Kendra’, visit women’s self help groups and the women’s cooperative members. You will get the chance to talk to all levels of health workers, women’s group leaders, and other villagers to understand their lives, experiences and perspectives. Through these observations, individual and group reflections and discussions, we hope to draw out a broader map of the country’s health problems and ways of addressing them. The experience will be facilitated by a group of resource persons who have been committed to making medical education a transformative process, as well as equipping students and young doctors to be more relevant to the surrounding context. We will start with health, but we can surely move beyond and explore other horizons.

What to expect from the RURAL SENSITISATION CAMP?

Stay in a rural area for 3 days

Experience rural India first hand – its people, its dreams, its problems

Understand health care in rural areas – challenges & practices

Meet resource persons from many fields and learn from them

Make friends with others who have similar aspirations

Be part of a movement to make our country better

Feedback from participants of previous RSPs:

“An exposure like this shows us the other realities of healthcare…It showed me how little I knew about the bigger picture”

“Rural sensitisation should be made mandatory for all medical graduates. I wish I was introduced to it earlier”

Health care

In the community

Each participant will be asked to contribute Rs.1000 for simple food and basic accommodation for the three days. You will have to bear your own travel to and from the centre which is located 25 kms from Bokaro,30 kms from Purulia and 35s km from Dhanbad. There will be a maximum of 30 participants per camp.

Community based health workers

To know more about and request the application form for the ‘Rural Sensitisation Initiative’ to be conducted from 15th to 17th March 2024 in Chandankiari, Bokaro, Jharkhand contact: janchetnamanch@rediffmail.com

Women’s self help groups

For more details please contact Ranjan (9431128221 & 9661819114) or Lindsay (8084791472) In case you can’t connect leave a message – we will get back to you. We hope, such an exposure, may make you think about your role in addressing the country’s health problems.