Nirantar has developed a series of health education manuals, titled Swasthya ki Khoj Mein (In Search of Good Health).
The manuals were created with the following objectives:
Develop an understanding of health from a gender, class, and caste perspective that would inform the entire curricula and be integral to all the lessons.
Recognize and incorporate local health practices, particularly women's experiences and existing knowledge on health-related issues.
Enable women to see their health problems in the context of their own lives, and empower them to take greater control over their own lives.
Provide women an opportunity to build on and develop their skills and information on health-related issues through interactive pedagogy.
Who are these manuals for?
The manuals are meant for facilitators, teachers and health workers, working with women’s groups, literacy, post-literacy and continuing education programmes. The process of developing the manuals has been participatory. As a result the books take into account different contexts while talking about women’s health.
The three volumes link women’s personal experiences to larger political issues related to control over women’s health.
The first volume - Ek Nazariya (A Perspective) - deals with building perspective on issues of poverty, gender, caste, and the health care system.
The second volume, Khud Ko Jaane (Know Yourself) deals with the human anatomy. The approach locates learning within local understandings. It also contains various nuggets of popular science and interesting information.
The third volume, Apne Ko Pehchaanein (Recognise Yourself) deals with adolescent and reproductive health but expands the boundaries to include issues of mental health and violence against women, building on women's experiences.
Develop an understanding of health from a gender, class, and caste perspective that would inform the entire curricula and be integral to all the lessons.
