SaveMom launched ‘ANC Calendar’ to educate Pregnant Women on WHO’s Recommendations
One of the challenges of Antenatal care (ANC) in the rural regions is Health Education i.e. empowering women through education about the importance of Nutrition, Vitamin tablets, Maternal and Fetal Assessments, preventive medication, regular antenatal visits, healthy lifestyle, and community support during their pregnancy. SaveMom launches an MVP of its Calendar which serves both as a resource manual and a constant reminder of WHO recommendations for pregnant women. Since the calendar would have to be friendly to the local community. We customized our first calendar to the region and printed in Malayalam, the regional language of Vaalaramkunnu.
Through the first edition of the calendar, we wanted to help the pregnant women of Vaalaramkunnu to understand the importance of ANC visits and vitamin supplements. Having known that there is a widespread habit of tobacco chewing and excessive caffeine consumption, we decided that we will dedicate a page for each. We were shocked to learn that the women did not generally have healthy meals, hence we included a page that would recommend healthy food thrice a day. Besides, we wanted our calendar to function as a pregnancy calculator, a record, and a reminder for the eight ANC visits.
Every page of the calendar pictorially depicting a vital piece of antenatal care:
Page 1: A minimum of 8 Antenatal visits to the nearby health center.
Page 2: Do not engage in hazardous work
Page 3: Be regular with your vitamin and nutrition supplements
Page 4: Drink a minimum of 10 glasses of water a day
Page 5: Have healthy meals thrice a day.
Page 6: Create an emotionally supportive environment for the pregnant women
Page 7: Refrain from tobacco chewing
Page 8: Avoid drinking excessive caffeine.
As this edition reaches our pregnant women at Vaalaramkunnu, we intend to study the usefulness of the calendar and are brainstorming an optimum design and content for pregnant mothers and their families across the country.
