Sadoori, her mother and her daughter sit on a charpai underneath the shade of a tree, all three women of three generations, fanning themselves and each other. Sadoori’s mother is proud of her daughter for getting involved in community activities, especially since being part of the village organisation has given them financial benefits such as grants to fund income-generating ideas and healthcare. “When I needed a knee surgery, we were desperate but we got financial support because of Sadoori,” she comments.
Her mother is referring to Sadoori’s involvement with the EU-funded SUCCESS programme that she has been part of since the last three years. The programme aims to empower women to play a bigger social and economic role in their community and carry out investment and grant schemes to improve their poverty status.
Micro-Health Insurance (MHI) provides social protection for the most destitute and vulnerable households. The objective of the insurance scheme is to protect these families from health shocks that may push them deeper into poverty and hamper their capacity to earn a living. Under the MHI scheme, each patient within a household can avail of funds of up to PKR 25,000 per year.
Sadoori’s family would definitely have not been able to afford her mother’s surgery costing PKR 60,000 without the MHI provided through SUCCESS.
Sadoori’s son clings to his mother’s dupatta after he comes back from school; half hiding, half playing, the affection between the mother and child is apparent. Sadoori’s son is in the 5th grade and due to the family’s poverty, he is the only child out of five they can send to school.
“I have high hopes for my son, that he will grow up to be successful and help the rest of the family as well,” says Sadoori.
She shares that there is a sense of community and care the programme has given her as well as some opportunities to avail of loans and grants. When she misses a group or community meeting, her fellow programme members always reach out to her to make sure she is doing okay.
Sadoori has also learned more about the importance of health and hygiene for her family’s health. “ Before I had no idea how important hand washing and feeding my children certain food was, but the trainings I went too opened my eyes. I do feel my children fall sick less often,” she added.
In fact, many other women beneficiaries interviewed discussed how Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) awareness greatly impacted them and their families’ health. They were also surprised to see the link between community health and the community infrastructure schemes such as paved roads in the villages which resulted in less dust and greater cleanliness.
Also, in order to get MHI, beneficiaries must first get their National Identity Cards made, and most women did not have their cards before. Sadoori’s mother commented when asked how old she was,“I never really thought of my age, now because I tried to get the identity card, I know I am about seventy years old,” she said proudly.
The MHI scheme has benefitted 128,000 households and close to 9000 patients have been treated thus far. However, the programme could be further funded to assist women for a health transport fund as part of MHI. Transport issues and healthcare are cyclical lacunas when it comes to remote villages far away from hospitals.