Overview

Save A Mother Foundation operates in the United States of America and India. Its mission is to create a sustainable and cost-effective healthcare framework in rural India, with prime focus on maternal mortality rate.

Save A Mother works through Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC), a theory, it uses to spread health literacy and deliver healthcare solutions to 2 million people in 1000 villages. The solutions are simple and adaptable to suit the needs of the communities.

The implementation of the SBCC is through a model called ESP (Effective Social Persuasion), which is a seven-step practical approach for healthcare advocacy and behaviour change for the underprivileged in India. By this model, the organization has improved health care conditions for less than 15 rupees per capita per year and 15,000 rupees per village per year.

They have reduced maternal deaths by 90 percent and neonatal deaths by 57 percent. The same has been applied to other diseases like tuberculosis, and TB detection has increased to 10 times and the medical treatment completion to 100 percent. Under their population stabilising program, contraceptive acceptance has increased to 10 percent.

The seven-step model is an extensive and exhaustive approach to training experts, doctors and volunteers. They have more volunteers than official positions.

In step one: the organisation organises the structure and builds human capacity in a new village or community. They select and train program managers and supervisors. In step two: they deliver their mission and vision to the community by utilising the local talent to make charts, poems, stories, slogans and drama. In step three: they train health activist so that they could train the 'health volunteers' in a three-day workshop for each disease. In step four: the 'health volunteers' teach people. In step five: the volunteers and the organisation collaborate with public health workers. In step six: All actions are evaluated and improved. In the last step: the solutions are developed and replicated.

The model requires partnership with government and other organisations working in the community like Deshpande Foundation, Kakatiya Sandbox and Populations Foundation of India. At present, SAM is working in 1100 villages across Karnataka, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh impacting 3 million people since 2008.