TCIHC’s Proven Approaches to Be Scaled Up across All 36 Cities in Odisha State in India

Sep 17, 2019

At an urban health conclave held Aug. 30 in Bhubaneswar (Odisha State, India), state leaders announced that The Challenge Initiative for Healthy Cities’s (TCIHC) proven high-impact approaches are being scaled up across their state, expanding beyond the three Odisha cities where TCIHC is present.

From left to right, Pritpal Marjara (PSI India), Dr. Amit Arun Shah (USAID), Shalini Pandit (Mission Director NHM in Odisha), Mrunal Kanti Das (NHM Odisha) and Patricia Taylor (MCSP Director of Country Programs).

The conclave – attended by 166 participants and jointly hosted by TCIHC,  the National Health Mission and the Government of Odisha – aimed to identify approaches, experiences and learnings that will eventually contribute to drafting a strategic plan for delivering quality family planning and maternal and health services to urban areas in Odisha.

TCI works in three Odisha cities – Brahmapur, Puri and Rourkela – implementing the fixed-day static services (FDS) approach, which is an evidence-based approach whereby a special day is set aside each week to offer family planning services. FDS will now be implemented across all urban primary healthcare centers (UPHCs) in all 36 of Odisha’s cities.

“Scaling up TCIHC ‘s approaches, particularly FDS, across the state of Odisha will help so many more women and girls access quality family planning services,” said Dr. Anuradha Jain, USAID/India’s Project Management Specialist (Urban Health).  “Expanding from just three cities to all 36 is a great example of how these evidence-based approaches can diffuse to other areas for rapid scale up.”

In addition to FDS, the entire state is also adapting TCIHC’s “Lead, Assist and Observe” model of coaching for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to improve the quality of family planning counseling and referrals for maternal and newborn services.

Among other recommendations from the conclave, Odisha should work on a strategy to mobilize community-based institutions, such as local women’s groups like Mahila Arogya Samiti, and build their capacity to ensure quality services in urban family planning and maternal and newborn health. The state also asked TCIHC to provide technical assistance across the state as well.