Along with the service provision and training, efforts are been made to create awareness about the issue and change of attitude in society about violence against women. The main objectives of advocacy is to create awareness about gender based violence and its consequences on women; to create awareness about the crisis centre and its services amongst organisations, other hospitals, health posts and maternity homes and community at large.
Unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of
maternal mortality in India. The burden of abortion related mortality
and morbidity is disproportionately higher among adolescents and adult
women from marginalized groups.
As the Asia Regional Focal Point of the IFHHRO, CEHAT has been actively
participating in all its activities. IFHHRO, OSI and other NGOs have
launched a campaign in 2010 to address certain key issues of human
rights violations in health care settings.
Recently there have been a series of knee jerk reactions by the GoM as a
response to the rising pressure to curb sex selection. The Census 2011
found that the sex ratios have further declined both nationally as well
as at the state level. In Maharashtra, the sex ratios have declined in
almost all districts making it a state issue and not a regional matter
anymore.
Charitable Trust Hospitals are one of the oldest forms of public private partnerships in the country.
CEHAT filed an intervention petition in the Nagpur High Court on 9th
Sept 2010 in a Public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Dr.Ranjana
Pardhi and others against Union of India in 2009. The Lawyers Collective
is representing CEHAT for this petition. The PIL by Ranjana Pardhi and
others sought to streamline the medico legal response to sexual assault.
The draft rules for BNHRA were submitted to the Government of Maharashtra in June 2006, which remain on paper till date.
CEHAT’s work on health financing has led to a lot of literature on
health budgets, financing and expenditure issues, including large field
based studies to generate primary data. CEHAT has been conducting
trainings and involved in advocacy on budgets among people to raise
awareness and mobilize them for demanding higher allocations to social
sector especially health. In the initial years CEHAT did research
projects and came out with papers which mainly looked at major macro and
micro issues related to the health services and financing.
A National Consultation on safe abortion and sex selection was organised in Mumbai to arrive at better conceptual clarity
A round table was organised on the issue of abortion and sex selection. A
selected group comprising of demographers, abortion advocate,
researchers, women�s rights activist and medical professional
participated in the discussion.
The Campaign for Safe Abortion and CommonHealth with support from CEHAT,
CHSJ and SAHAJ working in the field of health thought it would be a
good idea to share their achievements and challenges with the media with
a special focus on their work on safe and legal abortion.
Having worked with the health sector for 6 years, establishing a
comprehensive health system response to sexual violence, which has
produced evidence that the health system can indeed be sensitised to
provide good services to survivors, CEHAT has been advocating for
implementation of gender sensitive protocols across the health sector in
India.
CEHAT have been closely working with the groups in Maharashtra region so
as to strengthen the budget work. The local groups are trained to
monitor resource allocation and formulate demands for state/district
/village level budgetary allocations as well as accountability and
transparency.
CEHAT has been associated with organsiations in Mandhya Pradesh and
Orissa and conducting training and capacity building on budget issues
CEHAT along with MASUM and Dr Sabu George( independent activist) filed a
Public Interest Litigation PIL in February 2000 to review tha
"Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misues)
Act-1994".
Son preference is one of the most evident manifestations of gender discrimination in our society.
CEHAT also conducted a workshop on the PCPNDT ACT along with the Indian
Medical Association (IMA), Punjab, FOGSI Punjab and the Appropriate
Authorities in Amritsar in June 2006.
The findings of the report have been submitted to the Maharashtra State
Health Minister Suresh Shetty and the Charity Commissioner so that there
can be policy-level changes so that Charitable Hospitals comply with
their mandated obligations.