ORS: One solution can help many

One aspect of IAM’s Community Development Project is BLiSS, which stands for Birth and Life Saving Skills. The BLiSS programme helps to improve maternal health and nutrition in our target area. It does so through a series of lessons that encourage participants to speak about their birthing traditions and ideas, learn new things about healthy pregnancy practices, birthing practices, and nutrition for infants. Then, participants and our facilitators work together to combine healthy traditional beliefs with healthy midwifery skills and basic nutrition knowledge. Through this process, they can come up with the best practice.

In one community, a woman who was a BLISS local teacher shared how BLiSS training was able to help her grandmother as well.

She said, “My grandmother came to my house and stayed for several days. While she was there she got sick and was experiencing dysentery and vomiting. My father asked me to take her to the clinic, but my grandmother did not accept.”

“I remembered that we learned from BLiSS how to make ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution, made from water, salt, and sugar) and Litti (a rehydration supplement made from flour, water, and sugar) for diarrhea. I made ORS and Litti and gave it to my grandmother. She improved over several days and eventually got better.”

While we always aim for our Community Development Programme to be full of transferable knowledge, we never know how it will affect others. This story is one of many examples of how our programmes can have a ripple effect on people outside of our programmes, too.

If you are curious about our work in BLiSS, click here to read another story. Or, if you are curious about our community development programme, click here to learn more.