National Health Mission conducts training on Mahila Arogya Samiti

Dr. Akuo Sorhie addressing the participants during a one-day training of trainers on Mahila Arogya Samiti in Kohima on Thursday.

• DIMAPUR — The National Health Mission (NHM), Nagaland, conducted a one-day training of trainers (ToT) on Mahila Arogya Samiti (MAS) for district consultant of national urban health mission (NUHM), district community mobiliser, block ASHA coordinators, block programme manager, general nursing and midwifery, auxiliary nursing and midwifery, data entry operator, vaccinator and community health officer of Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang, Wokha and Mon on Thursday at the IDSP Hall of Directorate of Health and Family Welfare in Kohima.
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• Addressing the participants and trainers present, Dr. Akuo Sorhie, NHM mission director, informed that MAS was formed with a central objective to empower women in the communities and involve them directly in the health and well-being of their respective communities. She added that one of the major responsibilities of MAS is to engage in the community health planning, thereby creating an environment of trust and openness where people feel empowered to seek help, access services and take charge of their own health.
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• An update from NHM stated that the participants would be trained on the aims and objectives of MAS, community health planning, maintaining records and funds, monitoring etc. after which, they would train the MAS members in their respective districts.
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• It mentioned that Mahila Arogya Samitis (MAS) are women’s groups of 8-12 locally resident women, formed for every 100 households in urban vulnerable settlements, for neighborhood health planning, action on social determinants of health and for monitoring all local services.
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• It added that urban primary health units have been fully set up in five districts so far in the state, while Mon district is under process at present. The rest of the districts would be covered in the coming years in a phase-wise manner.