• Not on our mailing list? Sign up now!

India

“He took her by the hand and said to her … ‘Little girl, get up!’” (Mark 5:41)

Lidder Valley Volunteer Health Workers Programme, India

Photo credit: Alfred Gnanaolivu

Lidder Valley is in the NE corner of the Kashmir Vale in India.

The Lidder Valley Community Programme (LVCP) is a ministry of the Amritsar Diocese of the Church of North India, addressing the needs of children and women in particular.

So what are the facts?

• 1 in 5 children in the State of Jammu and Kashmir die in the first year of life and 1 in 12 die before reaching 5 years old.
• 70% of children aged 3 – 36 months are anaemic.
• The second most common ailment is worms.
• Half of children under the age of 5 have respiratory problems.
• Female literacy rate is 43% with boys being given preference for further education.

This Community Programme recognised two areas of need:

• the need to overcome poor sanitation, limited health facilities, a lack of health education and the need for more local healthcare provision
  
• the need to help teenage girls and young women acquire skills and training

So the Volunteer Health Workers’ Programme was created.

Through the Volunteer Health Workers’ Programme, unskilled teenage girls and young women are trained to address health needs in their own communities by running weekly health clinics (where children and pregnant women form the majority of their caseload,) conduct health surveys and run health education and information on preventative medicine in schools.

Our support helps children who might otherwise die to have life, gives young women a much needed chance to acquire new skills and gives both a much brighter future.

Print this page
Bookmark this page