Kandhamal District Bags National-Level SKOCH Award for Improving Maternal Health

Phulbani: Bringing laurels to the State, Odisha’s Kandhamal district has once again bagged the national-level SKOCH Award (Silver) under the under aspirational district category for the year 2020.

The tribal-dominated district has won the prestigious award for its innovative project-“Implementation of Delivery Van, Bike Ambulance & Janani Auto to improve the maternal health.

Kandhamal Collector Dr. Brundha D has congratulated the district administration team for the feat.

Not so long ago, the district was in news for a wrong reason that nobody admired – having the highest number of home deliveries, when the rest of the country is moving towards total institutional deliveries. It was the only district in Odisha that had the dubious distinction of highest number of home deliveries. Besides adverse geographic conditions of Kandhamal district, the practice of traditional healing systems coupled with societal blind beliefs often stood as barriers resulting in poor turnout of women for institutional deliveries.

But with an active and timely intervention of the district administration through a systemic approach and a slew of measures, such as introduction of delivery van, bike ambulance and janani auto, the scenario is now completely reversed. There has been a complete reversal in the trend and positive improvement in institutional delivery and maternal health.

Earlier, the Newsroom has carried a special story about Kandhamal district’s journey from abyss to zenith in improving institutional child delivery.

SKOCH group is a private think-tank dealing with socio-economic issues. The award, instituted in 2003, recognizes people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make the nation better. It also recognizes projects and institutions that are making best efforts in the area of digital, financial and social inclusions for the betterment of the nation.

Last year, Kandhamal district had received the prestigious SKOCH Governance Award in the silver category for its ambitious ‘Mission 171’ project that played an instrumental role in doubling the income of farm families with sustainability.