Women's Self Help Group,
Deewanbhedi Village CHATTISGARH

As of July 2004, 13 out of 16 districts in the state of Chattisgarh successfully completed the expansion of the DOTS strategy with the support of the Global Fund. (The DOTS strategy – an acronym for Directly Observed Therapy Short-course – is a World Health Organisation recommended tool to aid patients in completing their full six month TB treatment.)
Key to this expansion has been the involvement of DOTS providers at village level. In many places, DOTS providers are volunteers, but here in Deewanbhedi Village, they are paid.
The clinic gives its DOTS providers 175 rupees (US$4) for every successfully treated patient. After the program began, a group of women DOTS providers pooled their earnings and formed a self-help group. They have raised 400 000 rupees (US$ 8’800) so far, from which they give loans at 3% interest.
Each self-help group has about 10 – 15 female members. A total of 22 groups exist in this village and all are primarily involved in micro-credit schemes. These range from fish stalls, chicken farms, vegetable stalls to tea stalls. The midday meals for children at the school are also coordinated by them.
They are motivated to become DOTS providers through information and education sessions. Only those who are literate are chosen for training as DOTS providers. Interestingly, none of them have had TB themselves. Once selected, they have to come to the clinic every one to two months for supervision.
The clinic never has a shortage of women asking to be involved in the program.