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Female community health volunteers (FCHV) play a crucial role ensuring the health and well-being of women and communities in Nepal. They are recruited locally, trained on basic primary health care, and serve as frontline pillars of community-based health programs in Nepal. Through engaging FCHVs, HealthBridge is enhancing sexual, reproductive, maternal, and child health (SRMCH) in communities in the remote and mountainous Kalikot District of Nepal.
Samjhana Subedi* is a thirty-eight-year-old FCHV participating in HealthBridge’s “Improving reproductive health and preventing child marriage” project. Samjhana has served as an FCHV in Kalikot for 16 years. She has made significant contributions to the community-based health programming in the district and plays a vital role in providing health education and basic services to the community.
Samjhana participated in a training on SRMCH, gender equality and child marriage offered by HealthBridge’s partner International Nepal Fellowship (INF). Since receiving the training, she actively shares this knowledge when leading Mothers’ Group Meetings and when counselling women during home visits. Samjhana shares,
“Programs run by INF Nepal like SRMCH training, awareness raising programs… and the mobilization of Mothers’ Groups… have a significant contribution to improving the community awareness of sexual and reproductive health services and improves access to such services by the women and adolescent girls.”
Through Mothers’ Group Meetings and home visits, Samjhana supports pregnant women and mothers of young children with essential health knowledge and practices, ensuring better outcomes during the critical “golden 1,000 days” (from conception to two years of age). She also educates women on proper prenatal nutrition, encourages them to access antenatal, postnatal and delivery services in a health facility, raises awareness of the consequences of child marriage and early childbearing, and distributes family planning supplies to couples.
The impact of FCHVs like Samjhana was highlighted by Anjali Dhakal*, a 22-year-old new mother who remarked,
“Samjhana has been a guide for countless ladies. She encourages all new mothers to attend the Mothers’ Group Meeting regularly, so they benefit from the program. She ensures that pregnant women undergo antenatal care checkups according to protocol, advises on precautions during pregnancy and ensures timely vaccination for children. Moreover, she has been an active campaigner in preventing child marriage in our locality.”
Samjhana is a dedicated volunteer who has made a significant contribution to facilitating open discussions about child marriage and improving the health of mothers and children in her community. Her training on SRMCH, gender equality, and child marriage has strengthened her knowledge and skills, enabling her to make a greater impact on the health and well-being of women and girls in her community. HealthBridge and its partner INF continue to harness the expertise and commitment of FCHVs like Samjhana to enhance sexual, reproductive, maternal, and child health in Nepal's Kalikot District.
Story By:
Mahesh Sanjyal, INF Team Leader
Padma Hitan, INF Project Officer
*Not a real name
