Posts Tagged children
Bid to identify mental health problems of students
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Departments, Education, Health, Information, Other, illegal, meeting, modification, programme, student on March 10th, 2010
He is different from others in the classroom, avoids people and his grades/marks keep fluctuating. For teachers who come across such children in their classroom, psychiatrists have a word of advice. These may be signs of the onset of mental health problems, which need to be identified at the young age itself.
In an effort to identify and treat mental health or psychiatric problems of adolescents, the Department of Health and Family Welfare on Monday launched the ‘School Mental Health Programme,’ with suicide prevention as one of its main areas of focus. Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam and Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj participated in the launch.
The programme would be attached to the district mental health programme and implemented in various districts. To start with, medical health professionals, including clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and social welfare counsellors, are being sensitised.
According to M. Thirunavakarasu, president-elect, Indian Psychiatric Society, about 40 per cent of children in India suffer from mental health problems. “Suicide is the sixth main cause of death in India, while in adolescents between 12 and 19 years suicide or accident are the main causes of death,” he says.
While most private schools have in-house teachers doubling up as counsellors, Indian Psychiatric Society found that it has not been very effective as many students do not confide in a part-time counsellor or teacher. “A counsellor must be someone from outside the school. It is expensive but the purpose can be achieved,” says Dr. Thirunavakarasu.
The department would be creating awareness for principals and teachers on problems related to adolescence, matters on wellness and need for counselling cells in schools, rather than talking directly about the illness.
Some schools have extended such programmes to include parents too. A government school in Erode invites parents every Saturday for counselling.
Most CBSE schools have a visiting counsellor, some who even take classes in value education.
“It is a good move but the challenge would be to see if every school gets a counsellor or how often the counsellor makes a visit to the school,” says R. Arthanari, president, Chennai region, T.N. Higher Secondary Schools Headmasters’ Association. “On a one-off case, it is teachers who play the role as counsellor but children do not open up much as they are unsure if the teacher would mock his/her family history in the next class.”
Counsellors say winning the student’s trust is the biggest challenge in attending to mental health problems. Besides, parents and extra-curricular activities play a role in enhancing a child’s self-esteem.
M Karunanidhi launched the two-phase pulse polio immunisation programme
Posted by ganesh in Departments, Health, function, government, hospital, programme, tamilnadu on January 11th, 2010
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi yesderday launched the two-phase pulse polio immunisation programme by administering the vaccine to the children at his residence.
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According to an official release, the government intends to cover all those children up to five years of age left out during the last phase of polio vaccination in addition to the targeted 70 lakh children across the state.
A total of 40,399 immunisation booths have been set up in government hospitals, anganwadi centres, schools, primary health centres, bus stands, railway stations and tourist spots to administer the polio drops.
Underlining the safety of the oral polio vaccine, the government has called upon the parents to bring their children for vaccination. The immunisation would be available in Chennai at government and private hospitals, noon meal centres, railway stations, bus termini, the Marina Beach and at the trade fair on Island Grounds, the release said.
Nearly two lakh members comprising government staff, anganwadi workers, civic body employees, NGO volunteers and Rotary Club members have been enrolled for the pulse polio drive across Tamilnadu.
The second phase of child immunisation would be held on 7 February. It may be noted that Tamilnadu has been in the forefront in polio eradication through an intensive and sustained ‘Pulse Polio’ campaign. The state has not recorded any incidence of polio for the past one decade.
But the incidents of polio were being reported in some of the northern states of India. Hence to make the eradication drive a fool-proof one, the state has decided to organise pulse polio programme across Tamilnadu.
Corporation Mayor M Subramanian today inaugurated the first phase of the polio immunisation programme at a camp on Bharathidasan Salai in Teynampet.
Over five lakh children aged below five years would be covered under the pulse polio immunisation campaign in Chennai. The Corporation has set up 1,126 centres to administer polio drops between 7 am and 5 pm, the release added. Further, round-the-clock mobile vaccination centres at the Marina Beach, trade fair on Island Grounds, circus and bus termini were also arranged.
The Corporation had made special arrangements for the children of the migrant population. The identification marks on the little fingers of the children who were vaccinated were also done to identify the left out. In Chennai nearly 4,500 government employees, anganwadi workers, corporation staff and NGO volunteers have been pressed into service for the Pulse Polio campaign.
The number of baby boys with cleft lips are high in the rural areas:surgeon H C Mult
Cleft Children International (CCI) craniofacial surgeon H C Mult Hermann F Sailer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation Erica Schwob and Meenakshi Cleft and Craniofacial team’s project director Manikandan along with men carrying their babies having cleft lips.
The number of baby boys with cleft lips are high in the rural areas, according to Cleft Children International (CCI) craniofacial surgeon H C Mult Hermann F Sailer.
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CCI is a Zurich-based organisation treating children with cleft lips, palate and facial anomalies and it will soon set up its sixth cleft centre in New Delhi to offer treatment to such children.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai on Wednesday, Sailer said, ‘The organisation already has centres in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkota and Mangalore. ‘In India, we have done 27,000 surgeries. This doesn’t include the follow-up treatments such as orthodontic, therapeutic and psychological procedures’, he said.
Sailer explained the intention of the organisation. ‘We are the only ones in the world with the professional expertise to explain to the parents of the children what opportunities medical treatment can provide even in complicated cases, but that is not enough. Reports say one in 700 children is born with a cleft and the doctors here are not trained to treat all the 14 types of cleft and facial anomalies’ .
‘We have a school for children with cleft in Hyderabad since 2006. These children are very brilliant and they need to be trained to speak. There are nearly 200 children in the school’, he added.
The organisation, in association with The Meenakshi Cleft and Craniofacial Centre, has so far trained over 100 doctors, nurses and speech therapists in the country on treating cleft lips. The Meenakshi Cleft and Craniofacial team is headed by its project director Manikandan.
According to Manikandan, ‘In India, about 11 per cent of people with a cleft suffer from heart problems. Hence, there is a need for many experts while deciding on the treatment and surgeries. Isha Foundation, Coimbatore, helps us by educating the masses about our treatment.’
Erica Schwob, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation, and members of Isha Foundation were present on the occasion.
section of private school vans keep off the road in protest
Several parents had to drop and pick up their children from school in Chennai
Several localities in the city witnessed unusual traffic snarls, particularly around schools, on Wednesday. With a section of private school vans off the road in protest, parents were forced to drop and pick up their children in their vehicles.
Nearly 2,500 12-seater private vans transporting schoolchildren did not ply on Wednesday. According to K.Ragu, secretary, Federation of Chennai and Suburbs School Vans Owners’ Welfare Associations, the members had decided to stop operating their vehicles till Monday.
“The Transport Department has been conducting vehicle checks following the recent accident involving a school van in Vedaranyam. We all feel extremely bad about the incident, but the department cannot be so unreasonable with us,” he said on Wednesday.
Asked why the association resisted an enforcement drive that emphasised safety, he said: “We are all for safety measures. In fact, our association itself stresses on drivers possessing necessary documents and avoiding speaking on the cellular phone driving,” he said. Van drivers said that some enforcing officials seized vehicles without a valid reason, “despite producing necessary documents.”
However, the Transport Department maintained that there would be no compromise on safety and that only those vehicles that were not adhering to the rules were being seized. Transport Commissioner S. Machendranathan said the checks are being conducted between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. every day. “We have not received any specific complaints from van drivers regarding seizure without reason. Our officials are just doing their job of enforcement for better safety,” he said. Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Shakeel Akhter said the traffic police were also involved in separate checks to ensure that the van drivers did not flout rules regarding number of students to be transported, and possessed all necessary documents. “Schools have to make sure that they do not engage any private operator who might flout rules. If the seating capacity is 18, transporting 19 students is a serious violation,” he added. The protest by the vehicles meant a lot of hassle, especially in the morning. “Our daily routine goes for a toss if we go and pick up or drop children. My daughter had to wait for an hour after school hour since my son had to be picked up from another school,” said Lakshmi Kesavan, a parent who has engaged a private van for her two children.
Moreover, their vehicle was caught in a traffic jam outside their son’s school and they had to wait for about 40 minutes. Sangeetha Srinivasan, another parent, said it was very difficult for parents to organise an alternative on days that vans did not operate.
Unless more preventive effective measures are taken to ensure transmission of HIV
Support in the form of education, nutrition and medical expenses through the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Trust seek to help children with HIV/AIDS.
Children are a vulnerable group, especially to HIV/AIDS, where it has a harsh effect of leaving many orphaned and without support to continue.
Only 13 per cent of children know they have AIDS, according to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). Though the free antiretroviral administration for children introduced in 2004 brought in a marked difference in the treatment, the battle this young group is fighting is not over unless more preventive effective measures are taken to ensure transmission of HIV from mother to child is minimal.
P. Manorama, who runs a home for children infected and affected by HIV through the Community Health Education Society (CHES), says though there are fewer new cases emerging now than seen some years ago, it is true that the number of infected children being identified is on the rise.
Categorising children
An area of concern for those working with children and AIDS, she says, is that there is no uniform understanding of who these children are. “The national statistics says they are those between 0 and 15 years. What about children 16 years and above?” she asks.
In Tamil Nadu there are three community care centres supported by the Government. Besides, there are many non-governmental organisations offering financial, social and educational support. South India Positive Network (SIP), Udavum Karangal, WorldVision, Hope Foundation and many individuals either run shelter homes or offer care and counselling. However, there are the problems of inadequate funds, stigma in society and resources that is slowing the cause.
Doctors say once paediatric ARVs were made available, it solved a major problem. With a nutritious diet and counselling, children can now live a long, pretty healthy life.
Senthil Kumar has been running CHILD, a registered home for HIV infected children, for the last four years in Korattur. From housing children, today the centre is a home for infected women too. His biggest expense is paying for the education of school-going children. “The transportation for the children to a school near Chetpet alone comes to Rs. 7,000 a month,” he says.
The Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, through its Orphans and Vulnerable Children Trust established specifically for the purpose of assisting children infected by HIV/AIDS, is now offering grants to provide for education, nutrition and medical expenses of the children. The first batch of cheques was disbursed recently to children from all over the State.
HIV can hurt an ailing child further when she/he is discriminated by school, neighbourhood or family members. In fact, getting admission is a big task for organisations.
In the last eight years since Priya Dharshini, project coordinator, Hope Foundation, has been working for HIV infected children, the home has shifted from two rented accommodations.
Getting a rented place in the city is most challenging and we have to convince school authorities that other children are not at risk. “We had to fight with government schools to admit children and now there is better acceptance. We first conduct an awareness camp in school for teachers,” she says. Organisations say it gets tougher once they reach adolescence, where they start feeling lonely or when they fall in love and want to marry.
Bringing HIV-infected children to the mainstream, finding a good care giver who can unburden their social, psychological and emotional needs can bring in the much-needed support as the observes yet another World AIDS Day.
Polio drops to children of migrant labourers, all in the age group of five
A total of 1,181 children including 522 children living in Sri Lankan refugee camps and 651 children of migrant labourers, all in the age group of five, were given polio drops in Salem district.
According to health officials, Tamil Nadu has been in the forefront in polio eradication through the intensive and sustained Pulse Polio campaign.
The State has not recorded any incidence of polio for the past one decade.
But the incidents of polio were reported in the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from where migrant population had come to Salem for labour and livelihood.
These migrant labourers including doll makers, gypsies, construction workers, sugarcane cutters, quarry workers and others used to stay put in Salem and its neighbourhood.
Eradication
Hence to make the eradication drive a fool-proof one, the State had decided to cover the children of migrant labourers and also the children residing at refugee camps in the district. A team of doctors and para medical staff on Sunday identified 36 families in the city as ‘migrant families’ from other States and administered polio drops to as many as 651 children.
Later, another team visited the refugee camps in the district and gave drops to 522 children. A senior health official said that the second phase of polio immunisation would take place on December 13 beside the routine, two-phase mass immunisation programme, which falls on January 10, 2010 and February 7, 2010.
More anganwadis will be created in State on need basis: Minister
Posted by ganesh in Tirupur, government on November 17th, 2009
Minister for Social Welfare Geetha P. Jeevan (third left) and Minister for Highways M.P. Saminathan (second left) at a review meeting in Tirupur
To improve nutritional levels among children, more anganwadis and mini anganwadi centres will be created in the State on need basis, according to Minister for Social Welfare Geetha P. Jeevan.
Sanction
She told reporters here on Monday that the Central Government had recently accorded sanction to set up a total of 2,234 anganwadis and 1,772 mini angawadi centres in the State taking into account the new population norms.
“The centres, when fully opened, will ensure that beneficiaries need not have to walk more than one km to get various services offered under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme,” she added.
Ms. Jeevan said that steps were under way to fill about 13,000 vacancies of noon meal organisers, cooks, anganwadi workers and assistants existing in the department so as to give an impetus to the nutritional and social development programmes aimed for children.
She said that necessary government orders to post Project Officer (ICDS) and Personal Assistant (noon meal) to the Collector in Tirupur district would be issued within the next few days.
Works
Earlier, Ms. Jeevan reviewed the progress of development works and welfare measures undertaken by the department in Tirupur, Erode, Coimbatore and Salem districts.
Minister for Highways M.P. Saminathan, Collector C. Samayamoorthy, Commissioner for Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme M P Nirmala, Principal Secretary (Social welfare) to the State Government P. Rama Mohana Rao and Commissioner for Disabled Vijayaraj Kumar were present.
Awareness campaign conducted on Emergency Response Services
Posted by ganesh in Education, Salem, competition on November 16th, 2009
Drawing competitions were held as part of an awareness programme on Emergency Response Services organised for children in Salem
To make children aware of the importance of 108 c, Emergency Response Services, Tamil Nadu government, through Smart Saviours Learning Programme, organised awareness campaign on its ambulance services in various city schools recently.
With stress on traumatic childhood injury, these programmes aimed at inculcating in children personality development, self-esteem, and self-confidence. .
The children were put through innovative learning package and interactive sessions on emergencies.
Competitions, contests, periodic quizzes, puzzles and riddles that helped to register the 108 emergency number in young minds were organised
The awareness sensitized the children to keep the key points in their minds while a person was in an emergency situation. Apart from an awareness presentation, a demonstration also was organized using the 108 ambulance.
It was a unique reunion of children, including those from abroad, who had undergone heart surgeries under various schemes at the MIOT Hospital.
To commemorate Children’s Day, the MIOT Centre for Children’s Cardiac Care (MCCCC), with a view to send the message that any type of heart ailment was curable, brought the children under one roof to display their wide repertoire of skills.
All children, who sang, recited poem, explained the significance of Children’s Day and even danced had recently underwent various kinds of heart surgeries at the Hospital which had performed more than 1000 heart procedures since the MCCCC was launched in 2007.
In her address, MIOT Hospital Chairman Mallika Mohandas said today’s event was fulfillment of a ten-year-dream of the Hospital –”Putting Patient’s first”–its motto.
She said the MCCCC was set up to provide quality treatment to the poor, considering an alarming 20 lakh children had congenital heart diseases in India and this figure was rising.
Special Pulse Polio programme in Dindigul on November 15
A special Pulse Polio programme meant for children aged upto five years in refugee camps and wards of migratory workers would be held in the district on November 15, according to Collector M. Vallalar.
Addressing a meeting with health staff and members of Rotary Clubs at the Collectorate here recently, he said that the objective of the campaign was to cover children who might get left out in the regular Pulse Polio programme scheduled for January.
At the time of regular programme, these workers might go back to their States from where they came from or migrate to some other area in search of employment.
Survey conducted
To identify such children, a survey was conducted in all refugee camps, temporary habitations of workers who were employed in four-laning work of National Highways, railway tracks, construction of bridges and quarries, besides ‘nari kuaravar’ habitations and toy and idol makers.
The health staffers found 247 children in refugee camps and 140 children in temporary habitations of migratory workers. In the first phase, polio drops will be administered to these children from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Collector appealed to all parents to use this opportunity and protect their children from polio.
Deputy Director of Health Services A. Jageesh Kumar may be contacted for more details.
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