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| Children's Collectives
\ Health Care
Street and Working Children live and work in extremely unhygienic conditions
making them prone to severe skin conditions like scabies. At the same time,
as these children live and work on the streets they are susceptible to
physical injuries, which often left untreated leads to impairment of body
parts. One can see a high incidence of substance use among the children and
they are also susceptible to sexually transmitted infections thereby making
them fall in the high-risk category of people who could be exposed to HIV.
Thus to reduce the problems faced by children and at the same time also
create awareness amongst them about hygiene and nutrition, the health care
programme was started by Butterflies in 1988.
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Objectives |
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● To provide both curative and preventive treatment
accessible to the children directly on the street
● To form health cooperative of
the children and to empower them to have ownership of the health project
● To increase the
awareness level of the children in terms of their health needs
● To establish a cadre of
child health educators
● Propagating the concept of
health cooperative at community and grass root level for collective action in the field of health
● To network with the health
professionals in the city as well as the government health care institutions
● Advocate for change in
policies on health issues at central, state and local levels, which
has direct bearing on children's lives |
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There are three vital
components of the Health Care programme and these are Curative, Preventive
and Promotive Health Care.
 In the Curative aspect of the project the mobile health van along
with a doctor visits all the contact points on a weekly basis to provide
medical treatment to children in need. Along with it there are doctors who
visit the night shelters to provide medical care.
In the Preventive aspect
we have the health education curriculum. It is an integral part of our life
skill education programme. Issues ranging from HIV/AIDS, nutrition, rabies
and tetanus to tuberculosis are dealt with. Improving the knowledge skill of
the children and thereby reducing their susceptibility is the primary
objective.
In the aspect of Promotive health care we encourage the functioning
of the Child Health Educators and the Health Cooperative.
Child Health Educators
In order to tackle minor injuries and ailments in shelters and contact
points in absence of a doctor, children are given basic training in first
aid and handling emergencies. Their peers from different contact points
select children who are then trained to be Child Health Educator. They are
also made aware of different departments of government hospitals, to ensure
that a child in need gets immediate medical attention. The children have
also been provided with first aid kits for handling emergencies. Equipped to
tackle situations, the child health educator complements the health team.
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Responsibilities |
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● When a child falls sick, it
is the responsibility of the child health educator to bring it to the
notice of the street educator and the health team. If
required the child health
educator can take the child to a nearby government hospital for treatment
● If any child is hospitalized,
the child health educator remains in the hospital as attendant and organizes other children for care and support
● Gives aid in minor ailments
● Counsels’ children about
hygiene and good living
● Disseminate information that
helps in reducing risk behavior against substance abuse, STD’s, HIV/AIDS
● Promotes the concept of health
cooperative and collective action |
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Child Health Co-operative
Child Health Co-operative is a very unique initiative and forms one of
the main components of the Butterflies Health programme. Over the years
Butterflies mobile health care project has grown into a child health
co-operative, owned by the children. Child health cooperative is a forum of
street children where they discuss their health problems and chalk out
strategies to combat health problems. Each child pays Rs.5 towards monthly
memberships. The proceeds are used to provide medical care to the children.
The cooperative has regular workshops where children deliberate on health
issues and gain knowledge regarding diseases. This has instilled a sense of
collective ownership and participation amongst them. The cooperative is open
to any street and working children.
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Aims of the Child Health Cooperative |
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● To protect children from
illness, especially preventable ones
● To encourage children to remain
healthy by giving them information and skills to make informed choices and decisions
● To develop a feeling of
collective responsibility among all children towards health
● To form support groups of
children to reduce risk behavior
● To make provisions for treatment
of children who are ill
● To make children aware of the
precautions that they can take against diseases while they are on the streets
● To make them aware about the
precautions against sexually transmitted diseases
● To organize immunization
programmes so as to safeguard children from certain diseases
● To protect children from
substance abuse
● To train a cadre of Child Health
Educators
● To access government health care
facilities and ensure that poor children are given medical care |
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Child Health Cooperative Rules |
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● The membership fee for the
health cooperative would be Rs. 5 per month
● Children will be motivated to
regularly pay their membership fees
● 2 children in each contact point would be trained as child health educators so that they could help children who are ill at their contact point
● A member of the health
cooperative should regularly take part in all the activities of the
health cooperative
● Membership fees should be
collected regularly
● Other children should be
motivated to become members of the health cooperative
● Workshops on health issues
should be organized regularly
● Each contact point shall have a
unit of the cooperative |
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 Health Education
Health education is integrated as part of the Alternate Education
curriculum, wherein children are oriented on issues related to personal
hygiene, sanitation and health. Regular workshops are organized to orient
children on different issues ranging from HIV/AIDS, nutrition, rabies,
malaria and tetanus to tuberculosis. The primary objective is to increase
and improve the knowledge skill of the children and thereby reduce their
susceptibility.
Butterflies Health Post
Butterflies Health Post is primarily a treatment centre as well as a
convalescence place with beds available for street and working children who
though discharged from hospitals still require medical care and assistance.
Strategically located near the New Delhi Railway Station, which is one of
our contact points, the health post also serves as a night shelter for
homeless children with counseling service and educational programmes being
provided to them.
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