Our Story
In 2002, Dr. Prasanta and Dr. Nirmala along with like-minded professionals, Mr. Snehil Kumar, Ms. Vidya Nair, Mr. T. N Gunasheelan, Mr. Sudhir Sinha, and Mr. Raj Narayan from different streams, like, Medical, Engineering, Education, Social Sciences and Corporate Social Responsibility came together in Delhi and picked a set of guiding core values from a set of Angel cards for Ekjut. ‘Ekjut’ means ‘together’ in multiple Indian languages.
Dr. Prasanta and Dr. Nirmala left their jobs with an International Development Agency and a Public Health consultancy to relocate to Jharkhand.
Soon after relocating at Pansua village near Chakradharpur, a small township in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. They set up a village clinic and dealt with all kinds of ailments from simple skin infections to more complicated illnesses like severe anaemia, chemical induced pneumonia, undernutrition and many more from the neighbouring villages. This was a great learning experience for them to address maternal and child health issues with minimum resources. At that time with poor health services and no nutrition rehabilitation centre, the option for managing the families with children in distress because of severe acute undernutrition was to host them for a few days to treat them. During their stay, the long interactions with family members, they began to understand the deep-rooted causes and causes of causes, the social determinants of undernutrition and high mortality and morbidity among the adivasi communities. This understanding greatly helped in shaping the future initiatives of Ekjut.
Ms. Nibha Das and Ms. Sumitra Gagrai from the neighboring villages joined them in these early months. Ms. Nibha did the follow-up in their homes to ensure that the children/mothers were recovering and Sumitra was instrumental in introducing them to the neighboring adivasi villages.
A decade later, both Nibha and Sumitra were nominated as Women Exemplars for their work in public health in India by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) foundation.
Following an invitation from Prof. Anthony Costello, University College London in early 2004, Prasanta and Nirmala visited Makwanpur district in Nepal to observe and learn about a community mobilisation intervention to improve maternal and child health outcomes which had just ended. They interacted with the researchers and the local communities and learnt about an empowering sustained community capacity building process of community mobilisation. Back in Pansua, they piloted this approach in three adivasi villages on the other side of the Sanjay River in a staggered manner. Sumitra Gagrai facilitated the monthly women’s group meetings in Ho language that were constantly refined, and iteratively developed. The response from the community was encouraging as they found the meetings were interactive, engaging and relevant to them that covered – Maternal and Child Health issues that were organised near to their homes.
After we secured a grant for the project, Shibanand Rath, Suchitra Rath, Rajendra Mohapatra and Rajkumar Gope led teams from the local communities in Keonjhar district of Odisha and West Singhbhum and Saraikela Kharswan districts of Jharkhand. The result of this work was highly acclaimed after the publication of the paper in The Lancet in 2010 ‘Effect of a Participatory intervention with women’s groups on birth outcome and maternal depression in Jharkhand and Orissa, India: a cluster-randomized controlled trial.’
Two years later, in October 2004 our well-wisher, Late Ms. Judith Kramer, author of People of Jamkhed wrote “I have known Ekjut since it was a tiny seed of an idea. I saw the seed germinate and became a registered organisation with the backing and involvement of so many able people. And when the seed became a seedling, it was transplanted into the soil of Pansua by my courageous friends. Today the preparatory phase is almost done, 2 years after registration an ambitious new project is under way, which will help to lay the foundations of a better life for thousands of tribal people and their families in this beautiful remote region. I am proud to have had an association with the principled, respectful work and happy to see the process of betterment is now inevitable. With Love and admiration.”
The Ekjut trial was for 2005-2008 and the results got published in the Lancet in 2010.
Since then, Ekjut has moved to several Indian states such as Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
We are not just limited to geographical spread, but Ekjut has undertaken very important social concerns like Gender Based Violence, Maternal and Child Nutrition, Adolescent Health and wellness and now working on the different themes under the broader areas of Survive Thrive and Transform.
Dr. Prasanta once said –
“Communities need to be made aware of what it is in their power to accomplish”.
Dr. Nirmala says-
“It was crucial that the women were allowed to think through the issues and implement their own strategies to tackle them, rather than us telling them what to do.
The Milestones
In 2012, Ekjut India celebrated it’s 10th anniversary. Here is a look back at our achievements since our inception:
In Ekjut’s original three districts, deaths of newborn babies reduced by half using an innovative community mobilization approach. The intervention also reduced maternal deaths and postpartum depression in mothers. Ekjut’s intervention has touched the poorest of the poor: the biggest mortality reduction was seen among the most marginalized people. The results of Ekjut’s collaborative work has been published in several high impact peer-reviewed medical journals, including the Lancet, the leading medical journal. In 2011, the Society for Clinical trials selected Ekjut trial as the “Trial of the Year” for the study showing improved birth outcome and reducing maternal depression.
In 2017, Showcasing of Ekjut’s 15 years of work in rural India:
Key stakeholders and students were invited for a three days’ exhibition/ poster presentation and discussion sessions to share our experience of working with the communities. The themes covered areas of Maternal, New-born, Child health and Nutrition and issues around Urban homelessness. The occasion was graced by her Excellency the Governor of Jharkhand, Smt. Draupadi Murmu. Noted photojournalist and Padma Shri awardee Sudharak Olwe and noted award winning German photographer Helena Schätzle were actively involved in the exhibition. Visitors were led through a visual interpretation that explained various facts and realities from the field under the themes of ‘Survive, Blossom, Thrive and Transform’. Organized over November 19-21, 2017 at St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi, the exhibition was inaugurated by the Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Government of Jharkhand Mr. Sudhir Tripathy, Padma Shri recipients Mr. Mukund Nayak, Mr. Simon Oraon along with noted artist Mr. Haren Thakur and Chairperson State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Jharkhand, Ms. Arti Kujur. The exhibition was visited by more than 5000 visitors – among them bureaucrats, academicians, government personnel, students and youths.
Year 2022-23: Crèches scaled up in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
A total of 365 creches in the 3 states supported by Government, Philanthropies and CSR
Ekjut-managed creches are daycare facilities located in rural underserved villages and hamlets for children below three years of age. Two trained women from the same villages care for the children, provide them with wholesome nurturing care while their parents are at work. The nurturing care emphasizes on good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, security and safety, and opportunities for early learning, and for creating a nurturing and stimulating environment for holistic development.
Work in mental health spaces
Ekjut’s thematic area of work in the space of Mental Health highlights a community based approach to mental health to reduce stigma, discrimination and multiple burdens for help seeking supports in the form of medicalization. This Community Mental Health work amplifies all other work done by Ekjut over the past years during vulnerable periods across the life cycle (from birth to adolescence and adulthood) by preventing predictors of distress and addressing both common and severe mental health issues at individual, family and community level.